Silver Lining
by EmeraldGlee
Summary: Skull met a lonely and injured little boy in a park one day and vowed to help in any way he could. Harry met a strange and pushy tiny adult that just wouldn't go away. Drabble fic featuring an Overprotective!Skull and a Cute!Harry. Accepting prompts.
1. Arc 1: Beginnings 1

**Chapter Length:** 1, 433 words

 **First Published:** 01 December 2015

 **Edited:** unknown date: basic grammar corrections and flow changes. | 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information. | 05-24-2016: added the missing line breaks; further grammatical corrections and minor details added.

* * *

 **Meeting**

 _17 October 1987 – 18:28 – Sunshine Park, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Skull had just finished a rather simple, but still tiring, hit assessment on an unsuspecting businessman. He didn't know all the details and he frankly didn't really care. Some rival company probably wanted him dead for petty reasons he couldn't really care for. The man's death would just be another paycheck for the tiny hitman.

The toddler sighed. He missed the thrill of doing outrageous and death-defying stunts for a raging crowd. Things were so much more simple back then. And definitely much more fun.

He had decided to take a short walk in a random neighborhood park a rather long drive away from his target's office. It was his usual and most effective stress reliever to drive aimlessly on his custom motorbike. He enjoyed the looks of disbelief on fellow motorists when they saw his small form on such a large vehicle.

His trusty motorbike was parked a few blocks back in an empty alley. Oodako was doing her best to watch over his self-created metal monstrosity. He trusted his partner to take care of herself and the bike. His adorable octopus had mastered the art of being unseen after many awkward moments trying to explain why there was an octopus on a motorbike. Experience was the best teacher, after all.

He sighed again. He was _tired_. And not just from him scouting out his target. He was tired of the mafia as a whole, of the deaths he had caused, and of the numb sensation he felt wash over him ever since the Curse. He had lost his purpose in life.

He tiredly ran his hands through his black hair before stuffing it into his hoodie's pocket. He always dressed in casual clothes whenever he was scouting out his targets. His stuntman suit was too recognizable. Even if he was the weakest of the Arcobaleno, he was still one of the strongest seven. It wouldn't do to alert anyone of his presence and cause a ruckus that would complicate his assassination mission. He looked like a completely different person without his makeup, piercings, and dyed purple hair. It's amazing what those little details did to make him completely different from the Cloud Arcobaleno Skull.

It was dusk and the dark orange glow of the setting sun bathed the small park in warm light. The trees swayed in the cold, late October winds. His jacket barely kept the cold bite away from his skin. The park was rather empty and he liked it that way. No matter how boisterous he was in public, he was still a Cloud. He generally still preferred solitude.

He was surprised, however, when he saw the small figure sitting on the swing set. What was a child doing out so late? It was highly suspicious. Not that he wasn't suspicious being alone as well, with him looking like a two year old toddler, but at least he could take care of himself. The child looked really out of place in the fading light of the abandoned park.

As he slowly approached, he finally noticed the scrapes, bruises, and bleeding cuts the little child had.

"Holy–!" Quickly approaching the wounded kid, Skull's mind was racing. What happened to the little guy? Where were his parents? What was he doing all alone being this injured?

The noise must have attracted the kid's attention, and what Skull saw made him stop abruptly. The child's green eyes were dead. There was no spark, no light, on such a youthful face where innocence and laughter were expected to be found.

He had seen that look many times before in his rather long life. The underworld was filled with many unwanted and unloved children. No matter how many times he saw it, the dead look never failed to crush his heart. No child should ever look like that, even more so in such a nice and rich neighborhood.

Skull made up his mind then. He was going to help this poor child.

* * *

 **Little Savior**

 _17 October 1987 – 18:33 – Sunshine Park, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Harry felt someone running up to him before he saw them. The other person's shoes crunched heavily on the dead leaves littering the park grounds. Once his eyes met the smaller kid's, he had stopped in his tracks looking quite surprised.

' _What's up with him?'_

The toddler seemed to have made a decision, nodding his head to himself. The other kid approached Harry with determination. The green eyed child on the swing just tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Hello there, little one."

He was even more confused with the smaller kid. _'Little one? He's smaller than me.'_ The other kid looked normal enough if not for his strange purple eyes. Harry had never seen that color in someone's eyes before. His _family_ would call it freakish but he liked it. It was prettier than a lot of other people's eye colors.

"Are you alright?"

Realizing he was staring, Harry flinched. His aunt hated it when he stared. He received many a beating for being rude.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stare! Please don't hurt me...I'll be good from now on! Promise!" He cried out, frantic and scared. He had received a rather harsh disciplining session earlier that day when he spilled the bucket of soapy water used for mopping the floor. He had run out of the house when it was too much for him to take. He always hated it when his uncle pulled out the belt. In his haste to leave, he tripped a lot and those falls added more cuts to the numerous wounds he already had.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, kid. I'm not mad or anything. Calm down, please?"

The smaller kid's voice was really soft and gentle. The seven year old had never heard that tone directed at him before. Harry hesitantly looked back at the kid, slowly but not completely uncoiling from his earlier flinch. Man, he was being so silly. This was just a little kid. He had nothing to be scared about, even if the smaller kid was weird.

He ended up staring at the younger kid in front of him again but he really couldn't help it. The purple eyed kid was completely different from all the people in Little Whinging.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Harry blurted out, suspicion in his eyes.

"Nope. I'm just passing by after my work," came the honest and gentle reply. The smaller kid smiled so kindly that even Harry's hardened heart felt like melting. He was too nice. No one was that nice to him.

"How can you have work? You're smaller than me. Doesn't that mean you're younger than me? My teacher said only adults worked," suspicion colored his green eyes yet again. The kid in front of him was really weird.

"I'm older than you think," a wry smile covered his face. "I'm just small because of a...condition."

"Oh, you mean you're sick? Like those people I saw on the telly once?" And Harry really meant once. He had only watched that one documentary on small people before he was caught by his aunt and punished for disobeying The Rules.

"More or less," came the vague reply. The smaller _adult_ (and wasn't that weird? There was an adult that was smaller than him and he was smaller than most kids) looked like he wanted to laugh at something only he understood before he turned serious again. "Just what happened to you? Do you want me to take you to the hospital? You look pretty bad."

"It's okay. This always happens. I was just being a bad kid," Harry shrugged. Wasn't this only normal? "Besides, I'm a freak. I'm not allowed in hospitals."

The purple eyed adult looked shocked at what he said. Harry was confused. What was there to be shocked about?

"Kid, you seriously need help," a serious and determined look dominated the smaller adult's face. "Come on. I have enough experience to patch you up but it would have been better if you went to the hospital." He had held out his hand for Harry to take and looked at the injured child with an expectant look.

The little, bespectacled boy looked so confused but he eventually went along with the rather pushy adult.

In the future, when Harry would look back at his life, he would point out that this was the day he was saved from a much darker life. Skull was his little savior.

* * *

 **AN:**

Welcome to Silver Lining! This will be a Skull and Harry centric story. It will focus on familial bonds and a lot of fluff and will cover a lot of Harry's childhood years. As this is a story set in the mafia, things may get darker the older Harry gets, but hopefully, not too dark to go past the T rating.

I welcome prompts! As this is a drabble fic, I tend to look at prompts to get the story going. As a drabble fic, chapters may vary in length, though I try to aim for 1,500 per chapter update.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to review! Enjoy~


	2. Arc 1: Beginnings 2

**Chapter Length:** 780 words

 **First Published:** Data lost during the 05–04–2016 update.

 **Edited:** 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information; grammar corrections | 05–24–2016: further grammatical corrections; minor details added | 07–27–2016: added missing drabble title

* * *

 **Decisions, Decisions**

 _17 October 1987 – 18:45 – Back alley somewhere in Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Skull had taken the young boy, who introduced himself as Harry, to the back alley where he had parked his motorbike. He had kept his first aid kit inside his large pack which he left with his bike. Oodako enthusiastically greeted them when they arrived, scaring the poor green eyed boy.

Once the initial surprise wore off and the unique octopus proved herself to be well mannered, Harry ended up being fascinated by the creature. That made things easier for Skull. With the young boy distracted by his adorable octopus, he quickly cleaned the wounds before the child could shy away from the stinging pain of the antiseptic.

He winced when he saw the full extent of the wounds. There were a lot cuts, welts, and bruises that littered the young child's thin frame. Harry's flimsy shirt barely covered the damage. The Arcobaleno scowled as he quickly worked. No child should ever be subjected to such treatment!

On another note, why was he wearing such a thin shirt during this time of the year?! It barely kept the cold away. It wouldn't surprise him if the kid got sick within a few days. He was already so thin that his skin clung to his bones awkwardly. He had no fat to ward off the cold.

Skull had half a mind to take the kid with him right this instant if this is how his parents treated him!

He paused in his treatment when the gears in his head started churning. What was stopping him from taking the kid? He could easily just ask Harry if he wanted to come along with him. With how badly he was treated, the chances of the kid coming along with him was rather high. Then again, did he really want to drag a civilian child into the mafia? Skull, being an Arcobaleno, was too deep in the mafia to just up and leave that dark world to help out some random kid. If he really wanted to bring the kid with him, that would mean bringing him into the mafia. Did he really want to ruin the last bits of innocence the kid had? Did he really need to bring the kid with him, though? Maybe he could at least drop the kid off to a better place with a proper caretaker? Or maybe–

His thoughts abruptly stopped when he realized what he was doing. Why was he so invested in a kid he just met a few minutes ago? Harry was just one of the many unfortunate children he had encountered in his long life in the mafia. What was so special about the bespectacled child that he was getting himself so involved? He couldn't count the number of times he had abandoned children in a similar situation. The mafia was littered with so many unwanted kids.

His mind was so boggled with his actions right now.

"Excuse me, sir? Are you alright?" The soft, hesitant voice jolted Skull away from his stupor.

"A-ah…yeah. I was just thinking about some things," Skull murmured. He was still highly confused at himself. He resumed bandaging the little boy once he realized he actually stopped his treatment.

"I see..." Once Skull's attention was back on Harry, the young boy bowed his head and looked at his feet. He winced every now and then when the antiseptic would touch his open wounds. Now that the bespectacled boy's initial fascination with Oodako wore off, he reverted back to the shy persona he had in the park.

Skull worked quickly, even when his octopus partner climbed on top of his head while doing so, and was soon bandaging up the last few cuts. Harry was silent and patient throughout the treatment, completely different from most kids his age. Then again, considering the situation, was it really all that surprising?

Skull did one last look at his work before nodding in satisfaction. "There you go. All done. How do you feel?"

"Um...a little stinging and painful, but okay enough, I guess...?" Harry had shot him a hesitant look from under his bangs, his tiny shoulders doing a shy shrug.

Honestly, the little kid was so cute Skull felt like bursting.

That's it. He made up his mind. He wanted this kid to be happy no matter what it took. He didn't care if he didn't understand his reasons. There was no logic behind his actions but that didn't matter. His heart told him that this was what he needed to do.

No matter what happened from now on, Skull would have little Harry's back.

* * *

 **AN:**

I apologize for the rather short chapter. This was written back then when I updated daily and didn't really have a direction planned. That aside, isn't a polite, little Harry so adorable? I can just totes imagine Skull's cold, mafioso heart melting and his brain is just confused. Ahaha~


	3. Arc 1: Beginnings 3

**Chapter Length:** 1, 017 words

 **First Published:** Data lost during the 05–04–2016

 **Edited:** 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information; grammar corrections | 05–24–2016: added the missing line breaks; further grammatical corrections; minor details added

* * *

 **Worries**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:07 – Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Harry was a little hesitant to have Mr. Skull walk him all the way back to the Dursley's. The small adult had already helped him out so much by patching him up. He really didn't need to come with him all the way. But Mr. Skull was very stubborn and so the smaller adult ended up trailing after him even if Harry repeatedly told him not to.

"It's already getting dark, kid. I'd feel bad leaving you to walk alone. Besides, you're still injured. What if you trip or something? Who'll stop you from getting more injured than you already are?" On top of his head, Mr. Skull's Oodako also nodded rather energetically. Harry still found it amazing how smart the creature was.

Why was Mr. Skull being so nice? No one was this nice to him for this long before. The boy was worried that he would mess up like he always did and would anger the nice purple eyed man. Everyone always got mad at him over time even if they were nice at the beginning. It would only be a matter of time before Mr. Skull would get angry at him too. That always happened. He was a freak like that.

He didn't want that to happen, though. He wanted Mr. Skull to continue being nice to him. He wanted...he didn't know exactly what he wanted but he felt that if he stayed with the strange adult, he would eventually get what he always wanted. Whatever that was.

But he couldn't stay with Mr. Skull. The man obviously didn't need him. No one wanted him. He was a burden as his aunt and uncle always reminded him.

The young boy bit his lip as he slowly walked through the neighborhood with dread. He was really nervous. He knew that his earlier running away would mean more punishment. With him being a burden to Mr. Skull, he knew that his punishment would be even worse than usual. He would be lucky if it was just the belt.

"You okay, kid?" Mr. Skull looked at him with those strange eyes of his. His even stranger...pet tilted its head along with its owner. Harry couldn't place the emotions that he saw in those eyes. Those emotions were never directed at him before.

"Yeah. I'm fine, sir." He made a small bow at Mr. Skull before quickening his pace. It was getting really dark and walking slowly wasn't gonna make the punishment any lighter.

To be honest, he wasn't fine at all but he couldn't just say that. He was already being a burden as it is. Sharing his worries would just be too much.

* * *

 **Target**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:10 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Skull had initially come back to England to do a hit on a businessman that annoyed someone to the point of wanting to kill them. Earlier that day, he had observed his target in his office going about his daily work. It was boring and unpleasant, but was a necessary evil if he wanted to do a clean hit. Information was important in any mission, after all, to prevent any mishaps.

He had stopped his stakeout when work ended that day. He had thought of following his target to his home but decided on the contrary when he felt how tired he was. There was always tomorrow. His client assigned him two weeks to get the job done––more time than he usually needed for a civilian target.

When he had decided to meet Harry's family after patching the boy up, he didn't expect anything else except for a bunch of annoying losers that he wanted to punish for treating the boy so badly.

He didn't expect his target to open the door and turn a rather alarming shade of purple when he saw Harry.

Vernon Dursley sure complicated things.

* * *

 **Boy Who Lived**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:13 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

As if things weren't already complicated enough. Finding out that Harry was actually Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, made Skull have a migraine. He just wanted to help the kid, damn it! He didn't need all these complications.

He was _invited_ inside when Vernon finally noticed him. And how could he not when he blocked a hit aimed for Harry? After stating, in not so nice words, that he wanted to speak privately to whoever was in charge of the house, he was quickly pulled inside along with a rather surprised Harry.

Many things happened in succession after that instant.

One, Skull felt the strong magic washing over him once he had crossed the door's threshold. It had almost knocked him out with its potency.

Two, Vernon tried to attack him while he was frozen from the sudden magic overload. Oodako came to his rescue when she launched herself at the overweight man. His familiar quickly fastened her tentacles around his face, cutting off his air supply.

Three, a woman came in from the hallway holding a spatula. Her horse-like face had initially frozen in shock at the chaos before her. Once she realized the danger Vernon was in, she started to ineffectively assault Oodako with her spatula.

And four, a rather obese kid had come from the same hallway following after the rather ugly woman. He started crying and wailing while throwing random objects at Oodako with obscenely poor accuracy, adding more to the chaos that was already happening.

Off to the side near the door, Harry had watched the unfolding events with wide eyes. He was sprawled on the floor after Vernon tossed him to the side when his sweet partner went to his rescue. It was at that moment that Skull saw the iconic lightning bolt scar on the child's forehead. The fall must have for tousled his hair to the side, showing the scar for all to see.

Skull's head started hurting at the mess that this was turning out to be. Magic always _always_ complicated things. He needed reinforcements and fast.

* * *

 **AN:**

Can anyone guess how Skull knows about magic? Did anyone figure out before hand that Vernon was Skull's target? Isn't little Harry's worrying just so adorable? Like, I just want to hug him and pat his hair and tell him things will get better soon. Poor baby. It's no wonder he's such a temperamental teenager in canon.


	4. Arc 1: Beginnings 4

**Chapter Length:** 1, 824 words

 **First Published:** Data lost during the 05–04–2016

 **Edited:** 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information; grammar corrections | 07–27–2016: added the missing line breaks; further grammatical corrections; minor details added

* * *

 **Just Her Luck**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:23 – Varia Castle hidden somewhere in Sicily, Italy_

Viper had just come back to the Varia base for some well-deserved shut eye. She had been out on a rather high profile assassination mission of some political leader that didn't agree with a political party or another. The months leading up to the elections were nasty indeed.

"Make it look natural," her client had said. It was damn annoying as her target was fit as a fiddle. The man exercised, ate right, and—for a man of 60 years—he could run a 48 km run without problems.

It took her ages to figure out how to pop the rather fit senior citizen. It involved a bad case of diarrhea, a dengue fever, and a few illusions. Not her most graceful hit but, well, at least she got paid handsomely.

The tiny illusionist decided to have a nice long soak in her bath before sleeping. She deserved it after the 72 hours she'd been awake and working. Taking off her clothes and carelessly dumping them in her hamper, she went about setting up her bath.

An hour later, she was dressed in her pajamas and was casually sipping on a can of her favorite brand of strawberry milk. She was about to make herself cozy on her rather large bed when her phone rang. Grumbling, the Mist Arcobaleno took out the offending object and looked at the caller ID.

"Mu...what does Skull want now?" Grumbling some more, she had half a mind to ignore the call and just sleep. However, no matter how annoying the weaker Arcobaleno was, he wasn't one to just call randomly. There must be something big happening if the normally reclusive Cloud would contact her.

"What do you want?" She asked rather frostily.

"Thank god you _finally_ answered!" The relief in his voice got Viper curious. Something pretty big must be up. "I need here you here ASAP! I'm on a hit and apparently there's been a magical complication. I was forced to cross a ward of some kind and I don't know if it's time sensitive or whatever. It's only been a few minutes since I crossed and so far nothing has happened just yet. I'm not willing to risk anything with how strong the damn thing is. Just come here quick! Bring your wand."

After that rather rapid, desperate speech, Skull hung up. Viper cursed. Just her luck. When she was about to sleep, something came up. She quickly downed the last of her strawberry milk and put on her coat. With a flick of her hand, the wand she normally had hidden flew to her left hand.

With a few flicks, waves, and mumbled words, Viper Apparated to the marker she had placed on Skull's helmet. Normally, Apparation required the user to vividly imagine the location they needed to go. The esper had modified the spell to work with certain runes she had engraved on things. It allowed her to Apparate to locations without needing vivid mental images so long as the markers existed.

She wouldn't normally jump into things without making sure there was money in it for her, but it was different for Skull. She knew he would pay her well after everything was done. She didn't even need to name a price. He already knew how she priced jobs. They've known each other even before they became Arcobaleno and had worked together for quite a time. Out of all the Arcobaleno, she knew Skull the best.

And if he called so suddenly with that desperation in his voice, of course she would come to his aid. He had saved her life before, after all.

* * *

 **Damage Control**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:16 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Skull had been waiting outside the house, outside the barrier, with his helmet tucked under his arm. He ran a hand through his currently black hair—a sign that he was stressed.

And who wouldn't be with how things played out earlier?

After he realized that Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived, he immediately went to work. With a flick of his fingers and short burst of Cloud Flames, Oodako grew in size and let go of Vernon Dursley. She was just large enough to wrap all three of the annoying people in her tentacles. With a few more flicks and twists of his fingers glowing in purple fire, the three of them were seated on the long sofa—still bound, of course.

He then turned to a surprised and fearful Harry that was still on the floor.

"Are you alright, kid?" Concern laced his voice.

The small, young boy was still frozen in shock and fear.

"Hey, hey, no need to be afraid," Skull wanted to raise his hands in a placating manner but that would just make Oodako do something that might kill the three seated on the sofa. He opted to trying to sound as harmless as possible.

"You...Oodako..." The young boy looked so confused and scared. It broke the Cloud's heart a little.

"Oodako was just protecting us from the big guy over there. He was about to attack, you know, and I don't want you to get hurt. You're already injured as it is."

"B-but...you didn't have to hurt Uncle Vernon...or Aunt Petunia and Dudley too..." That betrayed voice clenched at Skull's heart strings. He could practically hear the accusatory _"I thought you were nice!"_ in the kid's voice. He winced.

"I didn't hurt them, kid. They're just bound right now, but Oodako ain't putting any pressure on them. Think of it like a seatbelt. Keeps them in place so they don't hurt themselves." _'And others,'_ he thought privately.

"...can you let them go?" came the quiet voice after a moment of thinking about what he said.

"As long as they don't think of attacking anyone anymore. I mainly came here to talk, after all." He shot the large man on the sofa a dirty look. The obese man did not look repentant at all. He even looked like he wanted to have another go at attacking at that moment. Skull glared at the man and walked closer. He whispered to the sofa's occupants, reminding them of their position. He didn't want Harry to hear, however. He already looked like the bad guy in the child's eyes right now.

"You're currently bound by my octopus, you know. I won't hurt you as long as Harry doesn't want to hurt you. But remember, I can easily command Oodako to squeeze so hard until you're nothing but little blood splatters and organs on the floor the moment you try something."

That got the man blanching. The woman looked green, and the kid, once he saw his parent' reactions, looked like he would piss his pants.

"I'll let you go if you promise not to do anything stupid." He said this out loud, looking at the trio with frigid eyes. Quick desperate nods were his reply. The trio's mouths were covered too, preventing them from assaulting his ears with their shrieks. The hideous woman had the most unpleasant voice.

Glaring at them one last time to send the message across, he wiggled his fingers and cut off the flow of Cloud Flames. Oodako let go and shrunk back to her small form. She quickly crawled and jumped on top of Skull's head.

"Kid, why don't you go upstairs or whatever with that other kid? We adults need to talk about some stuff." He turned to Harry and smiled as reassuringly as he could.

"Hmm... As long as you don't hurt each other anymore." The young kid looked at him and the couple still frozen in the sofa.

"Yep! We'll be very civil."

Reassured, Harry left to go into the hallway leading up to his room or whatever. After some prodding from his mother, the fat kid also left. Once the kids were gone, he addressed the two adults.

"We need to talk but first I need to make a phone call. Do anything stupid while I do and you won't even have organs to splatter the floor with once I'm done with you." He glared at them and released a bit of killing intent and Cloud Flames. He was satisfied to see the very fearful faces. Intimidation success.

He flicked his hand and snapped his Cloud Flame wrapped fingers. Oodako jumped from his head and enlarged into the size she had earlier. The adults looked like they wanted to protest at the presence of his sweet partner but a glare from him shut them up.

"Just a precaution. You don't do anything and Oodako doesn't do anything to you. Just shut up and wait."

Once he was sure that things were settled, he went out to call Viper. The androgynous Arcobaleno was the only one he could contact for anything magic related. The other was blessed with a working magical core.

He, on the other hand, was a squib.

* * *

 **It doesn't make sense!**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:20 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Harry sat on the thin mattress in his cupboard thinking about the recent events. It was weird and he didn't understand his feelings.

A part of him knew that Mr. Skull was just looking out after him. He could finally place the look in his eyes as _concern_ and that really boggled the young child's mind. Why was Mr. Skull so concerned for him and his well-being when they just met earlier that evening? It made him happy, though.

Another part of him was scared of what Mr. Skull could do. He knew adults were scary. That's why he had to be careful and polite around them, but this was really something else. It was really amazingly scary how the tiny man could control Oodako's size like that. It was like _magic_! He had to be extra nice and polite to Mr. Skull from now on. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of that anger.

Yet another part of him was...maybe not happy, but he didn't really dislike the treatment the Dursleys got from Mr. Skull. He was always punished for doing something wrong but they were never punished even when it was obvious they did something wrong. Harry then thought that maybe adults never got punished and that was one of the reasons he wanted to grow up fast. However, Mr. Skull punished them for being mean so did that mean even adults get punished too?

On the other hand, he also didn't want the Dursleys to get hurt. They were family, right? Family members were supposed to protect other family members, right? So, he asked Mr. Skull to let them go but...he didn't really want to…? They always hurt him too even if they were family so…

"Gah!" A frustrated sound escaped Harry's lips. So many things didn't make sense anymore.

* * *

 **AN:**

Anyone else expect Skull to be a squib? Also, I think Viper needs more love. The other Arcobaleno will also get their deserved love but not just yet. :3 As for her gender, I decided to have a female Viper because KHR seriously lacks strong female characters. On that note, this fic will have a more prominent role for all the other females. I dislike that they just sit in the sidelines in canon, you know? Bianchi used to be cool but her potential never really went anywhere. I find it weird, since Amano-sensei is a girl. Whatever.


	5. Arc 1: Beginnings 5

**Chapter Length:** 1, 198 words

 **First Published:** Data lost during the 05–04–2016

 **Edited:** 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information; grammar corrections | 07–27–2016: added the missing line breaks; further grammatical corrections; minor details added

* * *

 **Sometimes, Skull needs to shut up.**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:26 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Skull turned to the source of the popping sound announcing the arrival of Viper. It was a good thing that everyone was currently having their dinners or whatever, leaving the neighborhood streets empty. The diminutive witch had her hood down, showing her scowling face for all to see. That alerted him to how out of it she was. She was always sensitive about hiding her features from others.

Even with her face exposed, she still looked as androgynous as always. With her reduced to a toddler's body, her voice was even more gender neutral than when she was an adult. If he recalled correctly, he was the only living person on the planet that knew her true gender. She put in a lot of effort into being as genderless as possible for reasons he didn't want to pry into.

"Where's that ward of yours? I don't sense anything even remotely strong." She cut right to the chase, brandishing her rarely used wand. Noticing him staring at her, she sent him a scathing look. "What?!"

"...what are you wearing?" Skull stared incredulously at the rather cute strawberry patterned pajamas peeping under her haphazardly placed hood.

Viper glared at him. "I was about to sleep before you so _nicely_ called." She self-consciously adjusted the cloak and her hood, properly covering up her frankly embarrassing pair of pajamas. "We don't have time for this! Where is that damned barrier?!"

The stuntman wisely shut up and guided her to the front porch of the house. If the normally stoic Mist was raising her voice, it was time to stay quiet and do what he was told. He didn't want to be subjected to crazy illusions on top of the undoubtedly harsh blow to his finances if he angered her.

* * *

 **Most of the time, Viper is vindictive.**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:30 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

"This really is something else, Skull." Viper mumbled in quiet awe at the strength and workmanship of the wards. She ran a hand through what looked like empty air, tracing runes that only she could see. Skull was never formally educated in the magical ways when his oh so kind family found out he couldn't get a reaction from any wand and dumped him in the streets.

For a few quiet moments, the stuntman let his colleague do her work. Occasionally, a quiet murmur would escape the hooded Arcobaleno's mouth. As the minutes passed by, Skull couldn't help the agitation that welled up inside him. What little he knew about wards was that they could alert whoever made them when someone did breach them. And breach them he did.

"The craftsmanship on this is frankly amazing. The magic is so tightly coiled in one very thin layer around the house preventing damage to most electronic devices while still being strong enough to protect against most magical attack _._ That takes a lot of skill, control, and raw magical strength to set up. Kudos to whoever made it." Viper rarely expressed awe so it said a lot when she highly praised someone else's work. Skull's eyebrows shot high on his forehead. Did he just make an enemy of someone really strong?

"From what I gathered, not only would potential threats be paralyzed and their magic sealed from them, it would also call on whoever made this masterpiece. Whoever made set up wards this strong is bound to be someone powerful. I wouldn't want that person in my vicinity at all." The Mist Arcobaleno nodded solemnly. The Cloud blanched and shook in fear. If the stronger woman didn't like this person, all the more he didn't want that to be near this...insanely powerful person! He needed to leave now! He had to take Harry and run for it!

Unknown to the panicking stuntman, his companion was smirking at him _—_ amused at his frantic motions. She let him suffer for a few more moments. He started talking to himself about plans on running away and the many contingency plans he had lined up. It amused her greatly.

That's what he deserved after making fun of her pajamas.

Eventually taking pity on the poor guy, she decided she had enough fun. She coughed to get his attention. Skull's head snapped towards her direction, attentive for any more details that would help him in his escape.

"It's even so specific that it will only react to magicals who cross its threshold with negative intent. The same goes for magic fired from a distance with negative intent." She smirked. "Your being a squib is in our favor for once. Your crossing of the barrier didn't trigger it at all. It also helped that you didn't have negative intent towards whoever this is anchored to. We're safe at the moment."

The relief that coursed through Skull left him boneless on the porch. "Thank god..."

They stayed like that for a few more moments before the fallen toddler looked up at her.

"You led me on, didn't you?" He said with an accusatory look.

Viper just smirked. She normally didn't agree with Reborn and his heavy handed tactics when dealing with the Cloud. But she could appreciate the nice feeling that picking on Skull gave her. He had the best reactions.

Case in point, the Cloud Arcobaleno just whined and pouted, acting exactly how his age looked like.

* * *

 **Almost all the time, Harry wants someone to rescue him.**

 _17 October 1987 – 19:45 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

"Did I hear you right, Mr. Skull? Are you asking me if...I want to come and live with you?" asked Harry, utterly confused at the turn of events.

"That is if you want to, kid. Your uncle and I...talked and we agreed that it's best for you to come with me," the small adult said with a kind smile.

"Why…?" The young boy couldn't comprehend what was happening at that moment.

"Well, I think you're a pretty interesting kid and it would benefit you the most if you come stay with me. I'm pretty cool, you know." Mr. Skull tried to make a cool pose but he ended up looking silly. The other small adult standing behind him, Mr. (Ms...?) Viper if he recalled correctly, made a small sound that suspiciously sound like a laugh at Mr. Skull's antics.

"I dunno...I'm not really good at anything and I don't want to make you angry with me. You're pretty cool so I don't want you to think I'm lame." Harry mumbled shyly.

"Nah, kid. You just haven't found what you're good at yet. Tell you what, I'll help you find out what that is. It'll be fun!" The purple eyed adult smiled so reassuringly that the scarred boy couldn't help but feel hope.

"Really…?"

"Really." It was said with so much conviction that made Harry's heart swell with joy.

"O-okay! I'll come with you!" He nodded so quickly, his glasses were slipping off his face.

"Then pack up your stuff, kid, 'cause we'll be leaving this dump soon."

The young boy in too large hand-me-downs ran quickly to the small cupboard under the stairs to pack his meager belongings. Things were changing for the better all because of Mr. Skull!

* * *

 **AN:**

What do you guys think about Skull and Viper's interactions so far? I kinda want to establish that they've been friends for a long time and I hope their banter here expressed that.


	6. Arc 1: Beginnings 6

**Chapter Length:** 1, 356 words

 **First Published:** Data lost during the 05–04–2016

 **Edited:** 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information; grammar corrections | 07–27–2016: added the missing line breaks; added the missing timestamp; changed the scenes to fit with the time zone differences; changed some minor continuity errors

* * *

 **Welcome home, kid.**

 _18 October 1987 – 4:05 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

"That was so cool, Mr. Skull! Well, it was dizzying but really really cool!" Harry excitedly yammered on after they had used the portkey he always had with him to go to his safe house. He might have been a squib, but he had enough magic in him for portkeys and potions to work. He was even halfway decent at making potions, if he was honest with himself. It was a miracle that he didn't trigger that barrier earlier. Perhaps his good intentions helped more than he thought.

They were currently sprawled out on his grassy front lawn of his humble abode. A few meters off to the side of the property was a small lake or perhaps a large pond—he honestly didn't bother to know the difference. Oodako had immediately jumped off his head and made her way towards her lake. The loud splash and happy squeal told him that his partner needed a well-deserved soak after all the work she did that day.

"Come on, Harry. Let's have Poppo make us some dinner, okay? Well, considering the time, I guess it's gonna be breakfast. Either way, after that we can settle you in one of the spare rooms I have."

Harry nodded and sat up along with the Cloud. It was then the young boy noticed the rather large house the Cloud owned. It was honestly not that large, but with a cursed adult and a small child, the two-story townhouse looked rather large.

"You live here, Mr. Skull?! It's large! And really pretty." Harry said with awe, his green eyes bright and trying to take in everything.

"Yep, and you'll finally have your own room." Skull scowled at the thought that this sweet child slept in a cupboard of all things. The Dursleys were going to pay. He still had time to carry out the assassination mission, a whole 13 days more. He can plan out something truly gruesome later. For now, he wanted to make sure Harry was comfortable.

"R-really...? Wow..." The young wizard, not that he knew he was one just yet with how he reacted to a simple portkey, gripped his small bag in anticipation.

"And later, we'll go shopping for more of your stuff. I'll also call in an associate to have you checked over. I think you might need to change your glasses." Skull wanted to jump on Harry's shoulder and playfully mess his hair up, but the kid was a little too small at the moment. He was worried that he might topple the kid over or something. The opted to patting the kid's arm.

"But Mr. Skull, you'll be spending so much on me then! I don't want to be a bother at all! Let me at least work for them!" Harry had looked at him scandalized.

"Hey, I want to, kid. Think of them as gifts or what. Something nice I want to do just because I want to do it. You don't work for gifts, you know." Skull inwardly winced. What the hell did they do to the kid to have him this screwed up? No kid should have to work for anything. No kid should react so badly to some gifts.

"I...wow, okay, Mr. Skull. You're really nice. I'll make it up to you someday!" The kid smiled at him so brightly that he felt his heart warm up at that sight.

He would do all that he could to make sure the kid kept smiling.

* * *

 **House Elf**

 _18 October 1987 – 4:10 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

"W-wha! Mr. Skull, what is that?!" Harry fearfully hid behind the smaller adult and pointed at the strange creature that popped into view the moment they entered the house.

"Welcome back, Master. Does Master have a guest today? This is truly a rare occurrence." It bowed at him and Mr. Skull, dressed in what looked like a well embroidered pillow case. Even if it was dressed in a pillow case, it looked rather elegant.

"No, Poppo. We have a permanent house resident from now on. Poppo, meet Harry Potter. Harry, this is Poppo, a house elf. He's in charge of keeping this house and the grounds clean and nice. He's a really good cook too! Say hi." Mr. Skull gently nudged him towards the delighted house elf. The purpled eyed man smiled encouragingly at him.

' _Well…if Mr. Skull says it's okay…_ ' thought the hesitant boy. "Um…h-hello, Mr. Poppo," he gave a small wave along with a shy smile.

"Oh no, no! Poppo does not need a "Mr." label. It is much too scandalous! Young Master will refer to Poppo as Poppo, because that is all Poppo is!" The house elf said, waving a finger in emphasis. Harry was surprised at the house elf. No adult ever told him to not call them by honorifics. Mr—ah, no, Poppo was really weird.

"Now, Master, Young Master, please excuse me as I make an early breakfast for you. You must be hungry. Please seat yourselves and feel comfortable. I shall prepare Young Master's room afterwards. Does Young Master have any preference?"

Harry looked so lost at the house elf's behavior. If Mr. Skull was nice to him, Poppo was really something else. He didn't know how to react to the treatment he had never received before. Mr. Skull continued giving reassuring squeezes and encouraging smiles at him. It made him feel better about the unknown situation. "Um...a bigger room would be nice." He said shyly. He looked at Mr. Skull from the corner of his eyes and since the small adult didn't say anything, he thought that maybe it really was okay to ask. But then years upon years of being told that he shouldn't ask for things kicked in and he hastily added, "I-if it's okay, of course! No need to go out of your way if it's too much trouble!"

"Nonsense." Poppo had waved his small hand as if to disregard Harry's last statement. "If that is what Young Master requires, I shall prepare a suitably large room. Now, please excuse me while I do my duties. Please help yourselves to some refreshments in the meantime."

The energetic house elf snapped his fingers and a plate of biscuits and a pitcher of juice settled themselves on the waiting room's coffee table. Harry's eyes bugged out at the casual display of magic. Mr. Skull had already told him about the existence of magic but it was something else to actually see it. Behind him, he could hear Mr. Skull laughing.

"House elves are really something else, aren't they?" said the small adult with an amused smile. Harry could only nod dumbly in agreement.

* * *

 **Care Package**

 _18 October 1987 – 7:22 –_ _Varia Castle hidden somewhere in Sicily, Italy_

After helping out Skull with his self-imposed job of extracting Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived and magical savior of Britain, from his abusive caretakers, Viper immediately Apparated back to her room in the Varia base and just crashed onto her bed.

Not even the Varia's loud occupants' screams echoing through the halls disturbed the tired Mist's sleep.

Hours later and feeling much more refreshed, though a little stiff from sleeping in her cloak, she groggily made her way to her bathroom. Minutes later and feeling much cleaner, she finally noticed the relatively large box on the floor near her door.

Making her way over to the package, she let out a small smile after reading who it came from. Skull had sent her his payment in cash, along with a complimentary package of her favorite brand of strawberry milk. He must have had his elf deliver it to her like always did.

 _'For helping me even when you haven't slept in days. Thanks. – Skull.'_

The idiot really knew how to make her feel better. Nodding in approval, she opened a can of strawberry milk and started counting the rather large wad of cash. She may have preferred them chilled, but strawberry milk tasted good no matter what temperature.

Just like always, he had given her the right amount of cash.

* * *

 **AN:**

What do you guys think of Poppo? Next chapter will feature him more prominently. Also, writing that last bit kinda makes me want to ship Skull and Viper together. That won't happen until waaaay into the future, maybe around Arc 3 or 4. And even then, I want to develop their romance slowly or what. It's just a tentative idea for now, though it really is appealing to me. What do you guys think?

Also, editing this chapter and the succeeding chapters was tough because ugh time differences. I should have checked that out first before writing that shit. Well, hindsight is 20-20.


	7. Arc 1: Beginnings 7

**Chapter Length:** 3, 340 words

 **First Published:** Data lost during the 05–04–2016

 **Edited:** 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information; grammar corrections | 07–27–2016: added the missing line breaks; added the missing timestamp; changed many details to fit with the time zone differences

* * *

 **Poppo the House Elf**

 _18 October 1987 – 5:34 – Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Poppo hummed to himself a soft tune as he started about his morning and the new day. He fixed his bed, washed up, and changed into a fresh pillowcase. Today he decided upon a dark blue one with embroidery done in white thread. It was simple yet elegant, just the way he liked it.

When his Master arrived with Young Master roughly an hour ago, he didn't have time to fix his bed and properly get ready for the day. Only a quick freshening charm made him presentable enough to face his Master. After preparing their early breakfast and making sure they were settled in, he decided to just continue the day and not go back to sleep.

He looked at himself in the mirror one last time to make sure he was presentable. Satisfied, the house elf nodded and left his room. A house elf represented the one they served, after all. It would be blasphemy if his unkempt appearance sullied Master Skull's reputation. The Japanese house elf was raised to be a good, proper, well-mannered house elf. Not at all like those barely literate fools who dared serve their masters so ignorantly.

Poppo went out to start his daily chores—beginning with his Master's garden. As Master Skull was a squib, he could not really care for much of the more feisty plants that he needed for his potions, most notably his blood replenishing and other healing potions.

As Poppo tended to the magical garden, he couldn't help but think that he was truly lucky to have Master Skull as his master. It was unorthodox, true, to have a squib as a master. House elves bonded to wizards and served them for the express purpose of tapping into their magic. As squibs generally did not have magic, or had a malfunctioning magical system, they were not really prime candidates for magical bonding.

However, Master Skull had access to another energy source that Poppo had only heard of in stories—the Flames of the Dying Will.

The brown eyed house elf didn't really know what Master Skull was doing in Japan all those years ago, but he had come at a critical moment. The then young house elf had recently been given a small sock by his previous Mistress after failing to meet her standards. The juvenile house elf, with the little magic he had slowly dissipating into the air without a Master to bond to, was slowly wasting away in a clearing far away from civilization. He honestly did not know where he was after a fit of uncontrolled, grief-induced Apparition.

The cursed man had stumbled into the clearing, his octopus looking as tired as he was. To the magically deprived house elf, the little magic the man held was essentially the water to a man dying of thirst. The elf's magic latched onto the wayward squib before anyone in the clearing understood what was happening.

The bond would not have formed under normal circumstances, but because of the presence of a large amount of Dying Will Flames, his elf magic chose to bind to that instead. What resulted was something that had never happened before.

The house elf had technically become a Flame Animal, what with his innate elf magic feeding off on an unknown source. This resulted in him gaining access not only to Master Skull's surprisingly much larger magical reserves than he first thought, but also to the almost infinite well of Cloud Flames his Master possessed.

Master Skull could have easily left him behind then and there, but the benevolent man took him in with open arms. Poppo vowed to serve under the kind man for his whole life. Never had he felt this kind of devotion—not even with his previous Mistress.

Finishing up with the garden, Poppo left for the house to continue cleaning. They now had a new house member and from what he remembered, young children tended to play around a lot. He had to make sure the furniture arrangement would not injure Young Master when he would play. If he recalled correctly, it was called "child-proofing the home". On the way to the house, the house elf couldn't help but play with his Cloud Flames, letting the purple fire lick his rather long fingers.

* * *

 **My Duties, Your Duties**

 _18 October 1987 – 12:51 – Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Poppo had entered the kitchen expecting things to be like they usually were—the kitchen being empty. Master Skull, while not one of those who absolutely hated mornings, he was not really a morning person either. With how late (technically, early) they had arrived that morning, he was sure that his Master and the Young Master would still be sleeping.

So imagine his surprise to find Young Master Harry standing on a stool trying to fry chicken.

"What is Young Master doing?!" came the surprised shriek of the house elf.

Equally surprised, the young lad jolted, almost dropping the tongs he was holding.

"Oh! It's you, Poppo. Good afternoon! I hope you're okay with fried chicken. They're much easier to make than steaks. I'm still not particularly good at making sure not to burn them or to make sure they're not too raw. With steaks, I mean. I'm pretty okay with chicken," babbled the young child, casually taking out a chicken leg and transferring it onto a plate already piled up with a bunch of already fried chicken. To the elf's critical eyes, they were rather well made and had a nice golden brown color.

"Young Master must stop at once! It is highly improper to have the Young Master cook for the house elf! The house elf must be the one to cook _for_ Young Master!" In his agitation, the house elf snapped his fingers and many things happened in sequence that made the boy dizzy.

First, the fire in the stove went out. Second, the pan and tongs in Harry's hands removed themselves from his grip and settled themselves down on the counter. Third, the boy was lifted into the air and moved to the nearby dining table. Once he was seated properly, a dining set appeared on the table in front of him, complete with a plate, utensils, a glass, and a napkin. It was arranged neatly and fancy-like.

"I apologize for the rather rough treatment, Young Master, but please just sit down and allow Poppo to make you lunch. Aside from fried chicken, is there anything else you would prefer?"

The boy was still rather dizzy, Poppo guiltily noted, and it took him a while to understand the question.

"Um, not really…?"

"Very well then. Your lunch will be completed shortly."

Poppo was so used to working quickly from his previous Mistress that he was done a short while later. Harry was yet again surprised when a bunch of food suddenly appeared in front of him. It was obvious that he was still not used to magic.

Not only was there a platter of fried chicken, but there were also servings of mashed potato, steaks, breaded fish, a bowl of assorted vegetables, and a tall pitcher of ice cold water.

"Poppo felt it necessary to add more to the menu, as Poppo felt that Young Master needed to eat more."

"Oh, um, thank you…?" Harry looked very lost as he stared at the rather large amount of food that was being served to him. "Um...can I really eat any of this? Or only some or…?"

"Of course Young Master can eat anything edible on the table. They were made for you."

The young boy flushed in embarrassment. "T-thank you…" He sat there, embarrassed for a few minutes. Poppo just stood in the corner of the room, standing straight and in attention should there be anything else required of him.

"Um...should I go ahead and eat, or…?" Harry's hesitant voice slowly broke the silence after a few minutes of inactivity.

"Well, of course Young Master can go ahead and eat. Master won't be up until much later and we can't have you starving while waiting for him."

"Oh, um, right." Hesitantly nodding, the child started with one chicken wing and a bit of mashed potato. Before he started eating, however, he addressed the house elf standing in attention near the kitchen.

"I'm sorry if I messed something up. Is there a special way you guys make your lunch here? I'll do better next time."

"Next time?! Young Master, there should be no next time. It is my duty to cook for you. You shouldn't have to do so, mostly at your young age!" Poppo really could not understand Harry, but he strived to do so. One must know their Master, in this case Young Master, so that they could serve them well after all.

"Huh? But isn't it normal to cook in return for letting me stay here? I mean, I don't have any money to pay you guys or anything…"

Poppo did not know where the English speaking child had come from, but if Master Skull wanted him to stay, the elf will do his damnedest to make the child understand that he shouldn't do chores meant for him. House elves were rather protective of their workload.

"You don't have to pay or do any of the chores so that you can live here. For as long as Master wills it to be, you can stay here for free."

"But that's not right! I have to have my duties or else I'll just be a burden and Mr. Skull will hate me and send me out and I don't have anywhere else to go!" Young Master Harry waved his arms in distress and emphasis.

That got Poppo thinking. Young Master had finally started making sense. All he needed was work to do! Poppo had a feeling they would develop a good working relationship. But he can't have what Poppo already had. What do human children do at their age…?

A look of enlightenment descended upon the house elf.

"That's it!" He turned to the young boy on the table who was curiously looking up at him. "We have established that cooking, cleaning, and gardening are my duties, correct?"

Young Master nodded his head slowly, confused as to where this was going.

"And you don't do other's duties like how you don't do Master's duties, correct?"

"...then what am I supposed to do?"

"You, child, are to learn. Read a lot of books, attend school, and learn as much as you can. You are still young and there are many things you don't understand yet. If you learn well, when you're older, you can help Master with more things."

The child's eyes widened in surprise and a little bit of excitement. A moment later, a determined look settled upon his face. "I promise to learn lots, Poppo!"

Poppo sighed in relief. He was already grasping at straws but it eventually worked. "Now, Young Master, before you go and explore the library, you must eat your lunch. I may have charmed them to keep them fresh, but it is considered rude to let food just wait there."

Young Master Harry nodded enthusiastically and started eating his chicken wing. He discreetly reached for a piece of steak, as if being caught in the act of eating it was a sin.

Young Master Harry was so strange, but Poppo was happy to serve someone else in the house.

* * *

 **Clothes Shopping**

 _18 October 1987 – 16:22 – Shopping district, Osaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

"Where are we right now, Mr. Skull?" Harry asked as he trailed after his new guardian. The man had told him that they were going out shopping for his things today.

They were currently in a rather crowded district full of different people speaking a language he couldn't understand. In the few times he had been in London, he had slowly gotten used to the amount of people littering the large city but this was something else completely! Everything was so much noisier.

"We're currently in Japan, kid. Specifically in Osaka," replied Mr. Skull, tightening his hold on him as they took a turn on one of the streets. "It's in a whole 'nother country, as you can guess by the people. Stay close to me, kid, since I don't want you to get lost."

Nodding seriously, Harry stuck close to the rather nice man. It amazed him that they were in another country altogether but then magic transported them here, so it was understandable. Magic was really amazing!

They walked quickly among the masses of people going about doing their daily things. It took them a few minutes, but they eventually settled in a small shop that didn't seem to have too many people inside. Harry couldn't read the sign at all but there was a very prominent rabbit figure on it.

"This here's my favorite place to get my clothes. I normally have them tailored but they also have some pretty high quality ready to wear stuff."

The entered the quaint shop that was out of place in a rather busy district. The bell on the door made a soft chiming sound announcing their entrance.

" _Welcome to Usagi's Clothing. How may I help you?"_ A short woman in a bob cut hair style greeted them. Harry just assumed she greeted them. He didn't understand anything and he wanted to learn the language as soon as he could. Poppo had told him to learn a lot and he was going to start with that. He was going to stay here for a long time after all.

Hopefully.

" _Heya, An-chan! It's Skull. I'm 'ere for some clothes for this kid. Just some ready to wear stuff for now. We can get some custom stuff later."_ Mr. Skull replied with a wave to the lady at the counter. They were really friendly. Harry thought they must be close.

" _Oya! Skull-han! Ara, who's this little guy?"_ Bob Cut Woman approached him with a smile. He waved shyly and ducked behind Mr. Skull. It was rather difficult to hide from the woman, however, since his shield was smaller than him. _"Aw, you're so cute! We have lots o' clothes for ya, little one! Come over 'ere!"_

She walked off and started pointing at different clothes on the rack. Harry looked at Mr. Skull in askance, but the small adult just nodded and smiled, encouraging him to go with Bob Cut Woman. The lady was really energetic and kept talking—she even switched to English once she knew he couldn't understand Japanese (so that's what that language was called! Maybe if he asked nicely, Mr. Skull or Poppo could teach him). He just wanted to get a few because he didn't want Mr. Skull to pay so much but both adults insisted that he should get something more.

Honestly, he didn't think he needed new things since he still had his bag of clothes but after Mr. Skull saw him change into his night clothes last night, he put up quite a fuss and decided that they needed to buy new things _immediately_. Of course, Poppo rationalized that it was late and that they should do it when the shops opened. Harry tried arguing that he didn't need anything but Mr. Skull was really stubborn and he didn't want him to get angry so he shut up.

In the end, after an hour or so of browsing through clothes, he now had a sizeable amount of clothing for all occasions. He was actually wearing something that fit now, a simple green tee and jeans combo. He also had a black jacket in case he got cold, but at the moment, he had it tied around his waist.

"Are you really sure that we should get this much, Mr. Skull? This will be really expensive…" Harry frowned, his eyebrows scrunching up in worry. He looked at the rather large pile of clothes and frowned deeper.

"Don't worry too much, kid. You'll be wearing most of these for a while to come, even with growth spurts that are expected of your age. Trust me, it's fine."

Harry continued to worry. Mr. Skull was really nice. He shouldn't have to spend so much on him.

"Seriously, kid. Stop worrying. I want to give you stuff, so stop looking like an old man. You're only, what, five?"

"I'm seven, Mr. Skull!" Harry dropped his worried face and replaced it with an indignant pout.

After a short moment where Mr. Skull looked surprised, they went and paid Ms. Anna at the counter.

"Take care, little Harry! Shop again here anytime!" She smiled and waved goodbye at them.

* * *

 **Food for the Soul**

 _18 October 1987_ – _17:35_ – _Osaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Skull smiled as Harry looked at the menu with wonder only a child possessed. He was glad that the Dursleys didn't break him to the point that he lost that shine. When he met the kid in the park yesterday, he was really sure that it would take much more effort to get him to open up. He never wanted to see what he saw that first time he met the kid. Those eyes were too cold and dead.

' _Harry must really be starving for attention. Poor kid._ '

Talking about starving, Skull frowned. He always thought the kid was much younger than seven with how small he looked. With how little of Poppo's breakfast he ate that morning and the even smaller portions of lunch earlier, it should have been obvious that the kid was not used to eating regular sized portions. He just thought that maybe the kid was too shy to eat anything bigger.

He ran a hand through his hair. This whole business was seriously stressing him out. What the hell did that kid do to deserve all of this treatment? He was so totally gonna feed this kid more, along with some nutrient potions and the like. He really hoped that the doctor would be available tomorrow.

"Are you okay, Mr. Skull?" Harry asked, looking at him with those adorable, green eyes.

"I'm okay, kid. Just thinking about work." He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Tonight, he'll finish planning for the hit on the Dursleys. He will really make them suffer. For now, he had an enjoyable early dinner to enjoy with Harry.

"How do you use these sticks, Mr. Skull?" The young boy had such a cute concentration face. He clumsily tried to pick up some meat in his gyuudon but failed. He pouted but did not give up. He tried yet again and failed for the second time. All the while, Skull just watched the frankly entertaining display. Ah, children.

"We can have someone bring in a fork and knife for you." He smiled at Harry's embarrassed face as the child put the offending chopsticks down. A barely heard "Yes, please," came from the kid's general direction.

Once the more familiar utensils were in his hand, Harry resumed trying to eat the bowl of beef and rice. He initially ate with the same small bites he did that morning, as if afraid to eat. All the while, Skull encouraged him to take in bigger bites in between small talk. Eventually, when the child was comfortable enough and wasn't so nervous, he could actually taste what he was eating. The child's green eyes widened in surprise. He must have never had Japanese food before.

Skull's heart soared at the sight of little Harry picking up the pace of his eating to the point where he was actually worried the kid would eat the bowl too. The feeding frenzy stopped a few minutes later with a very content and embarrassed seven year old. However, even with how enthusiastically he ate, he didn't really get to finish the whole bowl.

' _At least he's eating better. We'll start with little steps until his stomach gets used to eating more. Eventually, this kid will need seconds or something!'_

* * *

 **AN:**

This chapter was based on a prompt given by **magnetic turtle**. Thank you! I changed Italian to Japanese considering the setting, though there should be plenty more opportunities for Harry to eat and appreciate food. Skull will make sure of it!

Osaka-ben sounds very different from regular Japanese and when written down in American English translations of the language, speakers of Osaka-ben are usually given a southern accent. I tried to express that here when Skull and Anna (written 安南 if you're curious. Should mean _peaceful/safe in the south_ or something like that. She's totes full Japanese if you're wondering) were speaking, but it also frustrates me to read overly accented speech. So, just imagine in your heads that they have an accent, mkay? I try to aim for consistency but if it's understood that everyone is speaking Osaka-ben, I won't really go crazy with writing out their accents. Seriously, writing down accents is hard, but I just made my life harder because I really really just want an Osaka-ben speaking Harry. Like legit, guys. That's my only reason for setting his in Osaka. I totes hear Harry speaking in that accent, all _ya de_ and _akan de_ and stuff in my head, you know? Totally cute.

So yeah. Ramble over. :3


	8. Arc 1: Beginnings 8

**Chapter Length:** 2, 873 words

 **First Published:** Data lost during the 05–04–2016

 **Edited:** 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information; grammar corrections | 07–27–2016: added the missing line breaks; further grammatical corrections; minor details added

* * *

 **D-Day**

 _21 October 1987 – 17:20 – Grunnings Drill Co., Surrey, England_

It took a few more days of observing and planning before Skull felt confident enough to do the hit. He wanted the Dursleys to suffer but he also needed to make things look natural. There was no point in drawing unnecessary attention to the fact that Harry was no longer in their _tender mercies_. He did technically kidnap the kid, after all.

Right on time, the fat whale had left the building and made his way to the parking lot. The good thing about this man was that he was obsessed with keeping things the same. It didn't take Skull long to be familiar with his schedule.

Adjusting the helmet on his head and checking over his stuntman suit one last time, the Cloud Arcobaleno nodded to himself. It was show time!

* * *

 **Endless Pain**

 _21 October 1987 – 17:35 – Back alley somewhere in Surrey, England_

It didn't take long for Skull to take over the vehicle they were in. One hit to a pressure point later and the obese man was out cold. With skill built from being a stuntman for years, he easily jumped from the backseat to the driver's seat and smoothly controlled the wayward vehicle.

He parked the ugly thing in an out-of-the-way alley and started to wake the even uglier man up. It really went in his favor that the man worked far from this house. Travel time from Grunnings to Little Whinging took at least two hours. That was plenty of time to teach this man a _lesson._

"W-wha…?" Vernon Dursely finally woke up. He groggily looked around until he saw a tiny suited up intruder in his vehicle. "What are you doing in here?!"

"Giving you a lesson, of course, on what happens when you treat children badly." Skull said this in his most ominous voice. With the dark surroundings and his glowing Cloud Flames, he truly did look like a nightmare from hell.

"N-now see here...I don't suppose we can talk this over like civilized people...?"

His reply was a super powered punch to the jaw. The large layer of fat barely did anything to protect his fragile bones. A large, resonating crack signaled for the broken jaw he now sported.

For the next few hours, Skull did what other people deemed inhumane. It didn't matter to the stuntman, however, and he continued raining in the torturous punches and kicks. An inhumane act for an inhumane act, after all.

* * *

 **Car Accident**

 _21 October 1987 – 19:37 – Phoenix Gasoline Station, Surrey, England_

To finish things off, Skull drove the vehicle containing the half-dead man into the empty gasoline station. He needed something that would ruin the body and hide the signs of torture he had inflicted upon the fat tub of lard. A nice car crash and explosion did that quite nicely. He made sure, of course, that there was no one in the station or anywhere nearby that could get hurt before he collided with it.

To be honest, he would have preferred a cliff to drive the car off of but there were no convenient cliffs nearby. He had to settle with second best.

With all of his skill and experience, the stuntman jumped out of the car before it collided with the gas dispenser. As expected, it erupted into a large inferno. The Cloud Flames he pumped into the vehicle only helped make the explosion bigger. The booming sound attracted the attention of people in the nearby houses, the gas attendants that he made sure were out of the blast radius, and the few cars on the road at that time.

It may have only been seven-thirty in the evening, but this neighborhood was known for being a quiet one with barely any traffic flow. That's why he specifically chose this place. The gasoline station was just an unfortunate casualty. He would donate to them anonymously later on as an apology. It may have cost him some money, but this hit was truly _satisfying_.

He walked quickly and silently through the night. There were moments, such as this one, that he appreciated the small size he had been cursed with.

This would make the headlines tomorrow. He could read it now: _Broken breaks kill Grunnings Director Dursley._ Some people may speculate that he was murdered, but Skull was thorough. This would only be seen as an accident. A very gruesome accident, but an accident nonetheless.

Skull specialized in these kinds of hits, after all.

* * *

 **Broken Woman**

 _21 October 1987 – 22:12 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Petunia Dursely collapsed on the floor in a boneless heap. She had been worried that something had happened to Vernon because it was not like him to be late in getting home. And even if he was late, he would always call her in advance.

To think he was killed in a car accident.

Petunia numbly let go of the phone that had announced her husband's death and just sat there. What was she to do now? She was just a housewife who had never finished a degree. How will she support her Duddikins now?

The doorbell rang at that moment. Petunia wanted to ignore it and just sit on the floor in her grief but whoever it was was rather persistent. Letting out an annoyed sigh, the thin woman stood up and walked to the door.

When she opened it, she saw no one there. She did not need to deal with a prank right now.

"Down here."

Looking down, Petunia saw the two midget freaks from last Saturday. Well, she assumed they were the same. It was hard to tell with one of them wearing a helmet, but the other one in the cloak was familiar enough. She glared at them. "What do you want? You already have my freak of a nephew."

"We just wanted to ask if you liked our gift, that's all," said the helmeted one. She was now pretty sure this was the same octopus wielding freak from last time.

"Gift…" The horse-like woman tilted her head to the side in confusion. Then it dawned on to her. Her face turned pale with dread. "...you killed Vernon, didn't you?" She whispered in disbelief.

"Yep. We did a rather fantastic job, don't you think? No one can tell it's anything but an accident."

"You…!" Rage filled Petunia as she lunged at the helmeted one. That was a fatal mistake on her part. She should not have left the threshold of her home. The wards would have protected her, but now that she was on the lawn, she had nothing to shield her from the spell aimed at her. She fell to the floor in a boneless heap.

"All yours, I suppose. Do your worst, Viper."

The small witch just nodded. To prevent curious eyes from watching, the professional killers silently and swiftly moved to the gardener's shed in the backyard along with their much larger burden. It really went in their favor that the wards had such a limited rage. It may have been more powerful than anything they have encountered, but it was rendered useless with its pitiful reach—something they used to their full advantage.

With a combination of Legilimency and flame-based illusions, nothing was left of Petunia Dursley's mind after a few agonizing minutes. They knew that if they killed her, the wards would fall and alert whatever powerhouse put up the thing. And so they did the next best thing, ruin her mind until she was nothing but a vegetable. Carrying the drooling woman (Skull's monstrous strength really came in handy at that moment) back to the front porch, they laid her as comfortably as they could in some parody of courtesy.

* * *

 **Harmonizing**

 _22 October 1987 – 01:30 – Bluegill Bar, London, England_

After the rather successful hit, Viper and Skull sat in mafia-sponsored bar that didn't blink an eye at the presence of what looked like two year olds that shouldn't be out that late in the first place drinking alcoholic drinks that they shouldn't even be touching. The Mist Arcobaleno was gently nursing her own pink lady while her companion was absentmindedly swirling his glass of vodka.

"Here's for the help earlier, Viper. I don't know what I would've done to the horse without your help," said the currently purple haired and makeup heavy Skull as he passed onto her a rather thick package full of bills.

She silently took the offered package and stared at her companion for a few minutes, contemplating something. The stuntman sent her an inquisitive look.

"Why go so far for a child you just met a few days ago?" she asked.

He looked rather surprised at her question and took a while to answer her, as if he didn't know the answer himself.

"To be honest, I don't know. I just feel like I need to," he said with a frown. Even he looked confused with his actions.

"Could you have Harmonized with the child? You have to admit, that would explain your actions quite adequately. Only a recently Harmonized Guardian would react to such drastic measures when they realize their young Sky was abused and injured."

"Hmm…" Skull's face scrunched up in the usual way he did when he was thinking deeply. Not everyone saw this side of the cursed man, as he usually wore his helmet or tried to act as unassuming as possible behind is boisterous mask. She knew he didn't like unnecessary conflict, with how wimpy he was. So the recent events and the rather harsh hit was not what he would usually do.

"I dunno," came his uncertain voice after a few moments of silence. "I mean, I've Harmonized before with Luce, and what I feel right now is completely different. I really dunno. When I first met Luce and Harmonized with her, she felt more like coming home after a really long day. It felt like those warm Sunday afternoons with the scent of baking pie or cookies filling the room or something. You felt that too, right?"

The Mist nodded, recalling the distant memory of the first and only person she had Harmonized with. She may have liked working under Tyr, the current Varia boss, but she did not feel a pull from him. Perhaps his own flames were much too weak to attract the much stronger woman.

If Harry was a Sky as they speculated, he would be a rather strong Sky to have attracted an Arcobaleno, even if he was considered the weakest of the seven.

"Harry, however...it feels more like _I_ want to be the kid's home. I want to make him happy, safe, and warm. Like, he's a little, lonely kid that needs a proper home to call their own. Or something like that."

"But isn't that still related to a concept of home? I've heard of Guardians who were more dominant than the boss they protected. Is that the case here? You are an Arcobaleno and have the strongest Cloud flames in existence. Perhaps that power gap has led to this unorthodox relationship?"

Skull ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He had been doing that a lot these past few days. "I really don't know, Viper, but it feels different. I don't think I Harmonized at all."

She took out the cherry from her drink and chewed on it for a bit before resuming the conversation. "Maybe he's different because he's a Polar Sky? Instead of feeling like a home to the Guardians, he needs those Guardians to be a home for him?"

"You know that's not how Skies work," he gave her a flat look. He took one last swig of his vodka, consuming all that was in the glass. He looked like he wanted a refill but decided against it.

Viper gave a noncommittal shrug.

* * *

 **So, you do have a heart.**

 _22 October 1987 – 02:09 – Bluegill Bar, London, England_

"Whatever the case may be, that child is important to you, right? Harmonization or no?"

He gave her a serious nod.

"Then you need this more than I do." Something fantastic happened. The stingy miser gave back his payment. Skull couldn't help but gape at the completely unnatural display.

He gave a suspicious glare at the hooded figure. "Who are you and what have you done with Viper?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"You're paying me in something else, stupid. I just think that paying me in money would not be beneficial for you right now—what with you caring for that child. And it would not be beneficial for me in the long run if you suddenly do something stupid because you don't have enough money to go around."

She knew he was an unattached and unaffiliated Cloud. He was a freelancer without a Familgia to back him up. With a child in his care, he would be spending more than he used to. Hell, with this hit fiasco, he would already have spent quite a chunk of his finances. She still had use for Skull and she didn't want him to make a mistake and off himself somehow in desperation to get more money. He may be an Arcobaleno, but he was just one man. What was one payment if she would lose the value that he held?

"You serious?" He sent her an incredulous look as he held the package of money.

"Yes. You now owe me a favor that I will cash in sometime in the future. And, of course, a lifetime supply of your homegrown berries. Your house elf has grown one of the best blueberries and raspberries I've ever had."

Once he finally realized that she was serious, he sent her the most grateful look she had ever received from someone else. He knew that she understood his financial situation. He was not poor by any means, but being a bachelor, what he had currently was enough for him. With his new charge, expenses would be much larger.

"Thank you." Those words were so heartfelt and sincere that Viper knew she would never forget this moment. It was not every day you had the most emotionally reclusive Arcobaleno show his feelings. He may be noisier than most of her fellow cursed babies, but he always hid his true feelings behind a layer of makeup and a whining voice.

"Welcome."

* * *

 **Tragedy**

 _31 July 1989 – 02:15 – Headmaster's Office, Hogwart's Castle, Scotland_

The story of the Dursleys was a tragic one. The hardworking and honorable husband Vernon Dursley died in a car accident. Grief stricken, the homely and kind wife Petunia Dursley fell into a deep depression that no one could pull her out from. She was eventually put into a long term care facility that would attend to her needs. With both of his parents out of commission, the bright young lad Dudley Dursley was put into his Aunt Marge Dursley's care. This tragic tale would be talked about for years to come.

Even when Number 4 was put on sale, no one wanted to buy the humble lot. Talk of it being cursed and leading to the deaths of whoever owned it prevented anyone from occupying the house ever again. In the coming years, some neighborhood children would try to sneak into the closed off house's interior as a test of courage. However, with the house staying as pristine as it always did—even when no one cared for it anymore—showed the amount of strange activity that went into the unassuming house. No one dared go inside that place since 1987.

With the amount of magic imbued into wards, it took years before it deteriorated enough for it to completely break and alert Albus Dumbledore to something unsavory happening to the Boy-Who-Lived. By then, however, all trace of young Harry Potter had disappeared. For almost a year since Dumbledore discovered the tragedy, magical Britain was in an uproar trying to locate their child savior. Sadly, nothing came of it and the search was called off. It was assumed that the young lad had been killed.

Currently, the headmaster was nursing a cup of strong firewhiskey and contemplating where he went wrong. Maybe he shouldn't have relied on the wards so much and had actually taken up Arabella Figg's offer of watching Harry in the neighborhood. No matter how much he planned, he really did not expect this to happen. He was so sure that the wards would prevent anything terrible from happening to the child.

"And it would have been his ninth birthday today too…"

The morose old man just sat in his chair and continued to drown in a dangerous mix of grief, anger, and regret. In all his years of living, he only wanted what was best for all. He wondered if his old age was affecting his judgment. Maybe he should start delegating more. Maybe he should start looking for a successor to his many positions. Maybe he should drop some of his obligations. The rather old man sighed, his posture weary and his eyes full of anguish.

"What's going to happen with the prophecy now…?"

Next to him, his ever faithful phoenix sang an ever so sad song.

* * *

 **AN:**

And so the Durselys are out of the picture. I hope the hit was still within the T rating. I tried to make it not as graphic as it should have been. Just fill in the gore and bits in your heads if you're particularly inclined for that stuff.

I want Dumbledore to come off as a sad, tired old man. I want him to be an old man who is really really way past his prime and should have retired ages ago. I don't want to make him an insane, crazy, power-hungry, evil, controlling bastard that most fics portray him as. He's a pretty cool character, and he is totes Harry's granddad figure and shit, but he really is too old, too used to fighting alone, and thus made so many shitty decisions in canon. I want to make him human, not one-dimensionally evil. I'm not sure if I portrayed this properly here, but tired old man Dumbles will make a prominent appearance here in SL later on.


	9. Arc 1: Beginnings 9

**Chapter Length:** 1, 844 words

 **First Published** : 05 May 2016

 **Edited:** 07–27–2016: changed muggle to mundane; added some more details; removed the italicized speech text as it is understood that both parties are speaking Japanese

* * *

 **Things are never so simple**.

 _20 October 1987 – 10:00 – Akasaka Clinic, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Akasaka Subaru was curious. It wasn't often for Skull the Arcobaleno to call him a day in advance to set an appointment for the whole of the next day. The Cloud would normally call a few minutes before he entered his clinic via his house elf's Apparition. It usually stressed the young doctor out, mostly if he was already entertaining patients at the time of the call and had to find excuses to kick them out of the clinic to attend to Skull.

He understood his friend's habit of calling last minute, however. Most of the time, he would be bleeding from many severe and critical wounds and could not set an appointment at a future date. It was stressful, but he was indebted to the man, and he would do anything to help the kind stuntman.

To be honest, it still amazed Subaru to see wounds on his friend that would normally other kill people on the spot. The doctor didn't really understand much of the Arcobaleno's condition, but he knew that Skull was uniquely sturdy even among his cursed peers—inhumanly so.

It was even rarer still for him to enter the clinic with a young child shyly following after him. Subaru blinked in surprise. He had a feeling things would get complicated.

"Good morning, Skull-san. What can I help you with today? You didn't really explain much when you called." The young doctor in his late twenties stood up to greet his friend. And that was another thing that was strange. Skull would always tell him beforehand what the problem was before entering the clinic in order to prepare the doctor for what was to come. Even when in a pained state, Skull would always get a chance to squeeze in a few phrases describing his injuries.

"Heya, Subaru-sensei. Sorry 'bout that. I couldn't really say much on da call since it's pretty…hush hush. Even more so than usual. I trust ya ta keep secrets, so I came 'ere."

Subaru blinked in surprise yet again. This must really be serious if Skull was mentioning the silence pact that the younger man had pledged when he became the cursed man's personal doctor. It was normally understood that he would keep all of the man's secrets. The auburn haired doctor's eyes narrowed in seriousness. He nodded, displaying his understanding of the situation.

"It's not one o' the usual but it's pretty bad still. See Harry over 'ere?" He gestured to the young child that was trying, and failing, to hide behind his small form. Subaru thought it was adorable and a small smile graced his lips. "Well, I just removed 'im from an abusive situation an' it wasn't pretty. I need ya ta give 'im a general check-up. So I can help 'im out, ya know?"

"I see." The small smile on his face immediately dropped. His yellow eyes narrowed yet again. He never liked people who hurt children. "Is there anything else I need to know before I begin the tests?" He knew things were never simple when it came to the mafioso in front of him. He had to ask to make sure.

"Well, he's a magical child. I dunno how da abuse has affected 'is magic, but can ya check? On that note, maybe ya should also check if he's close to bein' flame-active? With what 'e went through, I wouldn't be surprised."

Of course. Why not add magic to the mix? Oh, and flames too, apparently.

Subaru was a naturally patient man. However, he had a feeling today would be trying his patience, testing it to the limit. He nodded at Skull, smiled at Harry, and made his way to the clinic's entrance. He locked the door and flipped the sign closed. He made sure he didn't have any other appointments for the day and the closed sign should keep other potential clients away in the meantime.

* * *

 **Flame Issues**

 _20 October 1987 – 17:22 – Akasaka Clinic, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

It was a long day at the clinic and Skull was exhausted. He wasn't even the one being tested and he felt like dropping dead onto the clinic's sofa. He could only imagine what Harry was feeling right now. The small child was currently curled on one side of the clinic's plush, velvety sofa. It was a really angelic sight.

Although they made sure to take frequent breaks and to keep Harry relaxed and comfortable, it had been hours since they set foot in the clinic. It was understandable that the little child would be knocked out.

"Skull-san, I can only give you preliminary results right now. My magical knowledge of medicine is not as good as my mundane medical skill. I apologize that testing took this long." The young doctor slumped onto his office chair, dumping the results of Harry's tests on his table. It was obvious that he was exhausted. Skull thought that the excessive usage of magic and flames to assess Harry really drained his reserves.

He would have asked a more experienced doctor, but Subaru was the only one he knew that was both a magical and was flame-active. Approaching a regular doctor from a hospital was also not a good option, considering Harry's special conditions. Plus, the assessment would take much too long and Harry need intervention asap.

"Nah, don't be too hard on yourself, Subaru-sensei. Even I can tell that there's a lot that's wrong with Harry right now." His expression turned grave. He sat on the chair in front of Subaru's desk, turning all his attention to the tired auburn haired man. "What's his condition?"

"On the positive side, his magical core is developing normally and is actually rather strong. If things go well from now on, he would have one of the more well-developed magical cores of his peers. This is rather curious, considering his history of being hit by the killing curse. However, considering his results on the flame tests, maybe it isn't so surprising." Subaru-sensei had a thoughtful look on his face.

"What do ya mean, sensei?"

"He has the potential to be flame-active, but his flame core is rather damaged, Skull-san," the doctor had a rather grave look on his face. "His flame network is developing fine and the coils are just the right size for his age, but his flame core is severely disfigured. I suspect that the killing curse had something to do with it. As of this moment, I cannot tell what his flame type is or whether its purity will be high or low."

Skull bit his lip in worry. Although he knew that people could live their lives without ever activating their flames, they still had a flame network in their bodies. They may not be able to actively harness the flames outside their bodies, but their flames still worked in tandem with other physiological functions of body. Having a disfigured flame core could easily relate to heart or lung problems.

He dreaded Harry's physical evaluation.

* * *

 **You need serious help, kid.**

 _20 October 1987 – 17:58 – Akasaka Clinic, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

"Physically, his internal organs are still working fine even with the flame core complications. He would need frequent check-ups in the future to ensure that no organ failure would suddenly happen." Subaru-sensei's expression continued to turn even more grave.

"Aside from that, he has severe undernutrition. We have to be thankful that he was well taken cared for during his first two years. It really would have severely and permanently affected his development if he was neglected from the beginning. As it is, his magic has kept him healthy enough to avoid the usual illnesses that accompany undernutrition, such as marasmus."

The more Akasaka-sensei talked, the more Skull's frown deepened. He was even more resolved to make the Durselys suffer as much as they could. How could they do this to an innocent child? Why did they allow their prejudice to cloud their judgment against a child who has done nothing but care for them? How could they eat so well when Harry, who made most of the food in the cursed home, barely survived the day?

He barely noticed that he had crushed a paperweight in his anger. The doctor graciously ignored the violent act, opting to let his Arcobaleno friend vent out. The child's situation was truly heartbreaking. The angered mafioso took a calming breath and gestured for the doctor to continue. The pieces of the crushed paperweight slipped out of his fingers to pile on the oak table.

"To help him gain more weight, we will have to keep Harry on a strict potions regimen," continued the doctor. "Most of these potions can be found in the market. The others, I trust you can create them yourself. You have exceptional potions skill," he nodded in acknowledgment of the other's skill. He may have been a squib, but Skull was almost definitely a master of potions. The Arcobaleno just nodded in agreement, his face kept painfully neutral. He was trying his best to reign in his anger and to focus on the doctor's words.

"I will also prescribe some mundane vitamins and minerals to help augment the potions effects. I'm afraid, however, that he will remain to be shorter than his peers and have terrible eyesight regardless of our corrective measures now. The damage has already been done." Hearing those words, Skull's carefully maintained emotions were slowly slipping away.

He was going to destroy the Durselys.

* * *

 **To Heal and Destroy**

 _20 October 1987 – 18:56 – Akasaka Clinic, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

For the next hour or so, the duo continued to talk about Harry's condition and how to best help him. Aside from a rigid nutrition plan, they also incorporated stimulating exercise to help his underdeveloped muscles improve. Results had also shown that the young boy had sensitive corneas. Contact lenses were out of the question and magical eye correction procedures could only do so much. Mundane technology was not advanced enough for them to safely correct his eyes. He was stuck with glasses for the foreseeable future.

Their plans also accounted for Harry's socio-emotional development and his current psychological condition. The child had just come from a high stress, abusive situation and Skull really wanted to make Harry as healthy and mentally stable as he could. As much as possible, even if Harry could potentially be part of the mafia, his self-imposed guardian wanted to give him a chance to live a normal life.

As he was not a licensed clinical psychologist, Akasaka-sensei referred Skull to a trusted friend of his that knew about the mafia. The cursed man graciously accepted the referral and planned to take Harry there once the Dursleys were out of the picture.

In his peripheral vision, Skull could make out Harry's angelic sleeping face. It was only be happenstance that they met, but by whatever higher power was there, he would do his best to make his little charge's life much better from now on.

* * *

 **AN:**

This took a while. I had so much difficulty with writing this chapter. It doesn't help that my first draft got deleted when I transferred phones. I switched from an Apple to an Andriod, see. Well, whatever. What's done is done.

If you guys noticed, I didn't make Subaru have an accent like Skull. The good doctor is speaking the usual kind of Japanese, pretty formal too, actually, but that's just because they're in his clinic. He can be informal with Skull on their drinking nights or whatever. He's from Hakodate, Hokkaido, not that that's important right now really. I just like giving random tidbits to my characters to make them feel more real, you know? Also, his name is 赤坂 (akasaka: red hill) 澄春 (subaru: clear spring).

Please continue sending in your prompts! That would greatly help me in writing. I hope this wasn't disappointing for such a long wait.

Also, I went about changing things in the previous chapters. Nothing too big that you have to go back to it and stuff. It just annoys me that when I updated it, I lost the stats that I normally put at the beginning of each chapter. I don't remember when I first posted them or what their initial word count was and I stupidly just updated without making sure to record it. Oh well, that's just a personal preference of mine. It shouldn't affect your reading pleasure.


	10. Arc 1 - Beginnings 10

**Chapter Length:** 2,917

 **First Published:** 20 May 2016

* * *

 **You are a wizard, Harry.**

 _22 October 1987 – 9:10 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

It was a day after the hit on the Dursleys and Skull was significantly rested. To be honest, this was one of the least physically tiring hits he had done, though his emotional investment made him rather tired. After a full night's rest and a good breakfast, he was raring to tackle the day.

Well, except this. He really didn't know how to open this topic to the seven year old.

"What did you want to talk about, Mr. Skull?" His charge's innocently curious voice filled his ears and shook the hesitance out of him. It was now or never and Harry needed to understand his circumstances. He needed to know why he was removed from his relative's _care_ , why he was with them in the first place, and why there were in hiding right now. He couldn't protect Harry if the child didn't fully grasp the situation he was in.

"What I'm about to tell you is very important, okay, kid? I want you to listen very carefully and to ask questions when things aren't clear, okay?" He spoke in slow, gentle tones to make sure that everything was clear for the child. "If you don't know when to interrupt, just raise your hand like in school, okay?"

He knew that if he didn't take things slowly and didn't allow Harry to ask question in between, the child would be overwhelmed and information could be lost in the process. The usual "Don't ask questions until the end!" mindset would not work in this situation.

Harry hesitantly nodded in understanding, his big green eyes hidden behind lenses that were finally tailored specifically for him. Skull would never forget his charge's wide-eyed expression when he first put them on. It broke and touched his heart in a matter of few seconds. This kid really would be the death of him.

"Okay, you know that magic exists, right? Do you remember what I told you before when we used that portkey to travel here?" He asked. He wanted to make this as interactive as possible. When he took the responsibility of caring for the kid, he read up on as many parenting books as he could in the short amount of time the child had been with him. He particularly remembered the importance of having engaging and interactive conversations with children. Some parents seem to forget that children are humans too and should be treated with respect.

"Yeah, I do. You told me that magic is something that has been in this world since the beginning but only a few people like Miss…ter? Viper can use magic fully." A small smile graced Skull's lips at Harry's confusion at Viper's gender.

"Yes, they're called witches and wizards. You, Harry, are a wizard too."

"What?! No way!" He smiled and nodded at the child's incredulous expression. He made a rather cute expression, his new glasses almost falling out of his face when he jumped out of his seat. The cutlery on the dining table clanged with the table's sudden movement. Realizing the ruckus he caused, Harry's face immediately flushed. He slowly sunk back to his chair, highly embarrassed.

Skull would have chuckled at the cute display if not for the wince that appeared on the child's face once the embarrassment quickly subsided. He was slightly curled forward, as if to protect himself from something. Knowing the Dursleys, he wouldn't be surprised if they hit him for every minor mistake that Harry made.

It would be a while before these emotional scars would heal.

Once nothing happened after a while, Harry slowly uncurled from his reflexive reaction. Skull gave him time until he relaxed enough before he resumed the conversation.

"Yes, kid. Both of your parents were magicals and could use magic. It's not so surprising that you would be able to use magic as well. Do you remember any strange things happening to you that you couldn't explain logically?"

Harry had a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to remember. "Well, there was this one time I turned my teacher's hair blue. And then there was also that time I teleported to the school's roof when I was running away from my…bullies."

It took a while for Skull to convince the child that being chased around and beaten up was not a form of play. He had to convince Harry that he was being bullied and that it was wrong. That it shouldn't have happened to him. It really hurt to know that the child thought he deserved what happened to him. Even if he was slowly getting used to it, it would be a while before Harry would get used to being cared for.

"Those were examples of accidental magic. It happens when young witches and wizards can't control their magic properly and end up with a burst of magic fueled by strong emotions. I bet you felt really strong emotions before those bursts of accidental magic happened."

"Yeah! I was usually very scared when weird things happened." Harry then quieted for a bit, his face deep in thought. "But, how could my parents be magical? Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia always told me they were drunks who died in a car crash. Wouldn't magic save them from that happening?"

The child's voice was filled with honest curiosity––he truly did not know his parent's status. It made Skull really angry to have respectable magical warriors being described as _idiots_ who did _drunk driving._ Skull wanted to kill something to ease his anger.

He took a deep breath. Standing up, he gestured for Harry to follow him. Confused, the child followed his guardian. He looked back, concerned about the used dishes just left on the table, but Poppo quickly had that taken care of.

This day would be rather exhausting. They still had to cover topics such as the fall of the Dark Lord, what Harry's scar represented, and his vulnerability to potential fanatics killing him off for their fallen lord.

What the hell were the magicals thinking, dumping Harry in a house of mundanes without making it clear to the parties involved what exactly was happening? Harry should know about magic, damn it.

Oh right. Magicals tended not to think.

* * *

 **Resolve**

 _22 October 1987 – 14:22 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Harry was utterly confused. He lay in his rather large bed in his rather large room, trying to process all that he found out form Mr. Skull that morning. He stared up the wooden ceiling, at the simple hanging light that was currently turned off, and trying his best to make sense of everything he just learned.

He was a wizard.

His parents were magicals that died in the war.

There was a war and he was their savior.

There might be people after him.

…Everyone knew except him.

He didn't know what to feel about all of this. On one hand, he was very happy and grateful that Mr. Skull and Mr. Viper (he was going with Mr. for now until Mr. Viper's gender made sense) went through so much trouble to protect him. On another hand, he felt betrayed that his uncle and aunt lied to him.

He was scared to think of what would have happened if Mr. Skull didn't take him away. Would the mean magicals hurt him? Would Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia protect him? Or…would they just give him away?

He was really hurt that he really didn't know about anything. He found out that he didn't like not knowing. He was so thankful to Mr. Skull. He greatly appreciated the man all the more for being honest with him, for being so patient with him, and for he went through to help him understand everything.

He sat up in his bed and silently vowed. He vowed that he would never be caught unaware, that he would always know what was happening. He really hated the feeling of being lost and he vowed that he would never let himself feel that ever again. He vowed that he will always know the truth. He may have only been seven, but he felt it deep in his heart that he will live by these vows. He may not fully understand what he felt, and may not have the words to describe it, but he will live by it.

His magic willed it to be.

He took the small picture book that Mr. Skull had shown him from the bedside table he had haphazardly placed on earlier. The picture book detailed the adventures of the Boy Who Lived. It was supposed to be about him. It was all lies.

In a fit of resolution, the small picture book burnt to crisps. Unknown to him, his eyes glowed with a strength not many possessed. If his magic solidified the vow, his flames gave him the strength to act out on it.

Harry James Potter, at the age of 7, had unlocked his Dying Will Flames.

* * *

 **Routine**

 _21 November 1987 – 19:13 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

In the following weeks, the residents of Octopus Keep eventually fell into a routine that would be followed for a while to come. In the mornings, Poppo would make breakfast for Harry and keep the rest spelled for freshness on the table for Skull who woke up later than the other two. Harry would observe Poppo work and occasionally asked questions. The young child understood that the house elf didn't want this job taken, but he eventually convinced the feisty elf to teach him how to cook. Harry found that he loved cooking.

After breakfast, Harry and Poppo would go to the gardens where the elf taught him the basics of handling the magical plants. His experience with caring for Petunia Dursely's plants made it easier for him to understand the concepts laid out. Although, they eventually found that he didn't have the natural charisma that was needed for dealing with plants after a rather interesting encounter with a Chinese Chomping Cabbage.

Ever since then, Harry had particularly vicious enjoyment in eating cabbage. He favored chomping on those leafy greens when he was particularly angry. It was a strange but healthy habit, so Skull never really stopped the child from doing so.

After Herbology lessons, Poppo would go about cleaning the house while Harry assaulted the small library in Skull's home. He focused on learning languages, since he couldn't attend the local schools just yet because of his lack of comprehension in Japanese. The young child would munch on language learning candies while he listened to Japanese music and read different books in Japanese. It was difficult in the first few days, but he eventually got used to it, alternating reading with listening to music so as not to confuse him. Sometimes, he would watch the telly in the Electronics Room as it was dubbed, but he still felt weird watching when he was banned from doing so all his life. He kept his telly viewing to a minimum and was mostly just to hear conversational Japanese. He loved watching anime, however.

One would normally learn the language in a few days of passively munching on said candies but Harry was a determined little bugger. He was conversational by the first day and was quickly moving on to fluency. When he was fluent, Harry aimed to learn Italian next, since Skull said that was what he was second best in. Apparently, Skull was a native born English too. After Italian, the next on his list was Russian, Spanish, and French, then if he had time, Chinese and Korean too. Harry enjoyed learning the different languages.

Lunch was normally served at twelve noon. As Skull would have just eaten his breakfast, he was normally not hungry when lunch time came around. Nonetheless, when it was time to eat, he would accompany Harry and converse with him in alternating Japanese and English. Harry would chatter on about the different stories he read in the books and what anime he had watched. He was rather clumsy whenever they transitioned from English to Japanese and vice versa but he was getting better at it. When Harry started learning more languages, more and more languages were added in these conversations. It was a challenge the two of them enjoyed greatly. Magic was really helpful in learning.

In the afternoons, they would pick a different topic each day and Skull would tutor Harry in the said topic. He wasn't as good a tutor as Reborn by a long shot, but he was what Harry needed. The child was normally too shy to raise questions in class, afraid to draw attention to himself in case Dudley would bully him again. Skull was doing his best to break him out of that habit so that he would have an easier time when he would go to school this coming April. Skull was a comforting presence that was slowly letting Harry out of his shell.

On days when Skull had a hit to do, Harry would spend most of his time tailing Poppo around as he cleaned, asking questions and generally being curious brat. Poppo faced all of this with fond exasperation. When he got bored of following around the house elf, Harry would yet again bury himself in different books or watch the telly. Sometimes, Harry would go out to the local park in the afternoons to play with children his age. This started when Skull had noticed that Harry was getting a little stir crazy being kept in the house all the time. He had set rules, however, and only allowed the child to go out when Skull or a disillusioned Poppo was there.

When he told Harry this, the child's eyes lit up so brightly, Skull felt his heart brightening up as well. Every now and then, Harry would ask Poppo to come with him when he felt like exploring Toyonaka City. As Japan was a relatively peaceful country, it wasn't so strange to see a seven year old walking around alone in the afternoon. Poppo casting notice-me-not spells every now and then helped with the child's safety.

Skull did his best to finish his work by the end of the day so he could be with Harry in the evenings. Most of the time, he was able to do this but there were times when hits took days to finish. Harry was an understanding child and always welcomed Skull home even when he took days upon days to come back. Skull always felt great whenever he came home to the cute child greeting him so warmly with a hug that felt so accepting.

It was during this greeting that Harry let something slip.

* * *

 **Uncle**

 _12 November 1987 – 19:13 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

"Uncle Skull! Welcome home~" Harry had happily barreled into him the moment he opened the front door. The Arcobaleno went stumbling but he quickly gathered his wits. Harry was always so energetic whenever he came home, mostly now that he was gone for almost three days straight.

"Ahaha! Hey, hey, easy there, kid. You're toppling us over!"

"Sorry, Uncle. I was just so excited to see you again. I finally got Spanish down! I have so much to tell you!" The little bundle of energy was jumping up and down, tugging Skull towards the dining room for dinner.

"Whoa, easy there! Let me change first, yeah?" Skull was laughing. He really was happy that Harry entered his life.

Then something in his head clicked.

"Did…did you just call me 'uncle'?" He asked, stopping suddenly. As Harry was holding onto his hand, he too was stopped by the abrupt movement of the older and stronger man.

"Um…yes. Do you…not like it?" Fear and apprehension was clear on the child's face. He was really worried that he overstepped certain boundaries and was going to be punished. Mr. Skull was always so understanding. Maybe this was his breaking point. "Um, I can call you Mr. Skull again! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to–!"

Harry was cut off mid-sentence when Skull hugged the child tightly. He was squeezed around his midsection so comfortingly that he slowly relaxed into the cursed man's grip.

"Hush, child. I'm not mad at all. Listen to me. I'm not angry that you called me 'uncle'. In fact, I am very very happy that you called me that. Please continue to do so, okay? I'll be very happy to be your uncle. I'll be the best uncle you'll ever have, okay? So calm down, now, Harry."

Harry was so relieved and happy that he cried. He was super worried that he would be rejected. He had been debating for so long whether to push through with it or not. Uncle Skull was too nice.

"You're too nice, Uncle Skull." The child barely managed to say it in between sniffles and sobs.

"Nah. I'm nice because you deserve it, kid. You know I can be mean too." Then an evil smirk graced his lips. "Like this!"

Skull broke off the hug and started tickling the child. He had a maniacal grin on his face, laughing along with the child.

"S-stop it! Uncle Skull! Aahahaha! S-stop! Ahahahaha!" Tears were falling down Harry's face, but this time, they were tears of joy. Uncle Skull accepted him. He was happy.

He was never this happy before. Uncle Skull was the best.

* * *

 **AN:**

How do you guys like this chapter? Do you like how I completely didn't mention what exactly his flames are? Mwahahahaha! Tbh, I'm still confused whether I should chose one or the other, as I had set this up so he could have either or. Oh well, we'll find out eventually.

As for what I said last chapter, well, after reading through the reviews, there are still so much left to be covered before I can call Harry settled in with Skull. I want to end the Beginnings arc with Harry completely comfortable and settled in his new life. I still have his vaults to talk about, along with a new identity and shit to avoid magicals from looking for him. I apologize to those who were looking forward to some mafia shit. Worry not, it should happen soon enough. I have a clear enough plan of what's going to happen.

I understand that Harry's lessons with Poppo were just skimmed through but there should be more in-depth lessons in the future. Hey, if you're interested, we can go in deeper detail about the incident with the Chinese Chomping Cabbages.

Again, please don't hesitate to suggest some more scenes and stuff. I do take note of prompts to guide what happens next teehee.


	11. Arc 1 - Beginnings 11

**Chapter Length:** 2, 414 words

 **First Published** : 24 May 2016

 **Edited:** 10-31-2016: major overhaul

* * *

 **Scuffle**

 _10 November 1987 – 15:12 – Kumorinashi Park, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Harry strolled through the park he had been frequenting lately. Watching over him and seated on one of the many benches was a disguised Poppo. He didn't really know what kind of magic was involved, but the house elf now looked like a rather short Japanese man in a stiff and formal suit. He looked and presented himself as a very serious butler. From what he understood, the Japanese Magical Ministry provided special enchanted items that helped magical creatures such as house elves blend in with the general populace. This was to protect the Statute of Secrecy, as magical Japan didn't really believe in totally isolating themselves from their mundane brethren unlike most of magical Europe, especially magical Britain in particular.

Although he wanted to know more about the international relations of the different magical populations, he knew that was something to be learned at a later date. He was already swamped with learning languages and catching up with the rest of his peers in primary education. Due to his new living arrangements, he was missing most of his first grade in elementary. Harry was studying hard to make sure that he wouldn't be held back a grade when the new term started in April.

He walked around the park with a spring in his step. He was happy. Mr. Skull brought with him only good things. He had never been happier. He had been wondering if it would be okay for him to call his new guardian as Uncle now that he did what his previous _family_ was supposed to do. He was still hesitant, however, and refrained from the new honorific.

"Hey, give that back!"

A frustrated sound caught his attention. A few meters away were a trio of older kids, perhaps nine or ten, picking on a kid around his age. The boy his age was trying his best to reach for his stuffed animal while the _bullies_ just laughed at his misfortune.

"A boy like ya shouldn't play with bunnies! We're doin' ya a favor, kid!"

"That's for my sister! I was plannin' ta give it ta her! HEY! Yer gonna tear it!"

And true enough, the leader bully was pulling at the unfortunate bunny's ears. A little more and that rabbit would be split in half and everyone knew it. The boy was in tears, trying his best to reach for it in vain. He was already short for a kid their age and the bullies towered over him. He couldn't jump high enough to reach for his unfortunate pink bunny.

The park was mostly empty, considering it was a Tuesday and the kids should have been in class. There was no one around to help the kid and the bunny was starting to obviously tear. Small bits of stuffing were starting to fly out. The short, brown-haired kid was screaming now, trying to climb up the older bully's frame to reach his stuffed rabbit.

Now that thought about it, why weren't these kids in class? Not that it mattered. Harry couldn't stand it. He had to do something.

Without really thinking, Harry had tackled the leader bully down, the rabbit flying out of his surprised hands. He knew, from the warmth coursing through his body, that he was channeling the Dying Will Flames that Mr. Skull told him about. He had no conscious control over it, but his haphazard handling of the life energy was enough for a bunch of school yard bullies.

When the initial surprise faded away, the two lackey bullies went to aid their leader. Said leader was struggling hard against the smaller kid's surprisingly heavy weight. Not one to sit idle, the other child took his fallen bunny and set it aside away from harm and joined the fray.

Unknown to the group, too focused in their mindless brawl, the sand and dirt around them started to slowly rise off the ground. The earth underneath them, most notably under the bullies' feet, hand sunk under some unseen pressure. At some point, the bullies had fallen down from the heavy weight pushing on them.

Before the brawl could escalate even further, Poppo in his butler disguise had intervened. Although short for an adult, his disguise easily towered over the kids. He picked up the two lackeys easily and shook them a bit to get them to stop struggling.

"It is unbecoming of children to engage in such activities. Stop now and I shall let you go with only a warning."

Perhaps it was the presence of an adult, the fact that this adult was easily holding up two growing boys, or the subtle Cloud flames he was releasing that convinced all three boys to agree so readily. Either way, the trio of budding gangster lowlife fled the scene so quickly that a cloud of dust followed in their wake.

* * *

 **Rich Kid Heir**

 _10 November 1987 – 15:28 – Kumorinashi Park, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

"Come, Botchama. Sprawling on the ground is highly undignified." Poppo held out his hand for Harry. Said child gratefully took the offered hand and stood up. Before he could say no, the disguised house elf was already busy dusting Harry off. Unused to the treatment, Harry just blushed, embarrassed at Poppo's brand of care.

"Hey, thanks so much for helpin' me!" The boy they had helped approached Harry and bowed at the waist. His torn, pink rabbit securely cradled in his arms. "I dunno what I would've done if ya didn't come ta help! Poor Usa-chan would've been torn ta bits!" He bowed again even deeper than the last. "Seriously, bro! Thank you!" And he bowed again. He was bent so far down it didn't look comfortable in the least.

"Ah! N-no need ta thank me so much! Or ta bow that many times! Or that deeply, for that matter!" Harry was freaking out. He wasn't used to that kind of respect directed at him. Japanese were generally polite and humble, but the boy in front of him was seriously laying it on thick. The British child felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

It didn't help that Poppo insisted that he continue to serve his Young Master, no matter what the form. Since slaves were looked down upon in the general population, he had opted for the next best thing—being a butler.

Harry felt like crying. He had grown fond of Poppo but his and the other kid's behavior was a bit much. He wasn't some rich kid heir or anything! He was just Harry!

Oh, how little he knew.

* * *

 **Miura Aki**

 _10 November 1987 – 15:34 – Kumorinashi Park, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Miura Aki wasn't really sure what to make out of today's events. He had cut his afternoon classes after garnering the bad kind of attention. He generally loved being the center of attention and to have his peers look at him with awe and respect but today's incident was something else entirely.

He had initially joined many clubs because he was easily bored and needed to do something. Over time, however, people had begun to notice that he was seriously good at the things he did. He was the star player in the junior basketball team, was the best singer in the choir, and had won many junior karate matches just to name a few. All the while, he continued to stay within the top five high scorers of their year level. He was proud to say he was the best in math and kanji.

Because he was so good at things, people started to pay more attention to him. He loved it. He was instantly hooked. He loved coming home to his parents praising him. He loved it when his classmates would ask for his help because he was good at things. He loved receiving ribbons and stamps and trophies because of his achievements.

He loved being the center of attention.

And so he continued to doing the best he could at everything that interested him. He tried a lot of different sports and read a lot of different books to keep his mind sharp, just like what his okan always said. If he didn't know anything, he would spend days upon days making sure he did know about it.

One time, someone told him that he couldn't climb a tree as fast as Nakajou-kun. He told them he could and spent weeks practicing how to climb trees. He didn't know how many scratches he got and he did break an arm that one time he fell really hard, but he eventually got it down. He was able to climb faster than Nakajou-kun and he was proud of himself.

He was the best. And if he wasn't, then he would learn and practice until he was the best. His okan always told him that practice made perfect and she never lied!

So when he saw Kaname-chan bringing to school a stuffed animal her onee-chan made for her, he decided that he was going to do that for his own little sister Haru-chan too. It would be the perfect Christmas present!

It took weeks upon weeks but he finally got it down. He had brought the pink Usa-chan he sewed together to show off to his classmates. Surely, they would be amazed that he made such a pretty looking stuffed animal like Kaname-chan's onee-chan, who was years older than he was, right?

He was wrong.

The moment he brought out the pink rabbit during their lunch break, his friends and classmates started picking on him. They called him girly. They started to add -chan to his name. At one point, Ayase took out an extra skirt from her bag, since she always messed around in the school ground and needed a lot of spare clothing, and stared trying to make him wear it. There were other kids who tried to make them stop, like Suzuki-chan and Mouri-kun, but their protests were drowned in the laughter.

Embarrassed and ashamed, Aki took his things and left the school. He didn't care that there were still afternoon classes. He wanted out.

He had always thought that everyone liked him. Apparently not. He didn't understand why they were so mean to him earlier. He was never mean to anyone! While running away, tears just kept pouring and pouring down his cheeks. His vision was blurry and he tripped many times when he wasn't looking where he was going.

He eventually stumbled upon the park and sat down next to a tree, hugging Usa-chan and crying his heart out.

"Why…were they so mean, Usa-chan? What did I do?"

Usa-chan didn't reply, but Aki secretly felt like she was hugging him back.

He thought he had escaped the mean kids when he left school. He thought he was safe in the empty park. He was completely wrong. A bunch of older kids also skipping school saw him and thought he was easy prey. The descended upon him and his crying self like those evil villains from last week's Power Rangers special.

They laughed at him some more, took Usa-chan, and started tearing her apart. All his hard work for his little sister, for cute baby Haru-chan, was about to be torn to pieces and he couldn't do anything about it. He was too short and even his karate would be useless since they were so big.

That is, until a strange, green-eyed rich kid with his butler trashed the bullies and saved him and his rabbit. As what his okan taught him, he bowed deep and thanked profusely.

* * *

 **Friendship**

 _10 November 1987 – 15:34 – Kumorinashi Park, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

"Hey, ya can stop bowin' now. It's totally fine. Those bullies were bein' mean and it was only right to help ya out."

Aki slowly stood up from his fifth (or was it sixth? Seventh?) bow and properly got to observe the kid who saved him. It was obvious he was a foreigner but his Osaka-ben was spot on. Maybe he had grown up here? Behind him, his butler stood straight in attention and it was obvious he was ready to obey a command the moment it was uttered. He had heard of people who were dedicated to serving others and he couldn't really understand that.

Well, after this incident, he could sort of understand serving someone as nice as this kid in front of him. He didn't have to help but he still did and that warmed up his heart.

"Hi, I'm de Mort Harry. Most just call me Harry. What's yer name?" The boy smiled a cheerful smile, offering a short bow in introduction.

"Miura Aki! Nice ta meet ya!" He bowed in return, a little more enthusiastic than he felt he should have. He was always an energetic kid and he usually put all that energy in his academic and extracurricular pursuits. Having recently been in that fight and being nervous at meeting his savior, he couldn't help but exert extra energy into his bowing.

The other boy just laughed. It was a cheerful and kind laugh, very much unlike the ones he had been subjected to in class. He was beginning to like the warm energy that his savior excluded. It was nice. De Mort-sama's name was as foreign as his face and Aki found that cool. He never really met any foreigners before. Were all of them as nice as he was?

"Ne, Miura-han, is yer rabbit okay? If it's been broken, I or Poppo can fix it for ya." The kind boy offered with a smile. He was too nice, in Aki's opinion. He didn't make fun of Usa-chan or call him girly or anything.

"Thanks for the offer, de Mort-sama, but I can manage. I made her so I can fix her easily enough." He bowed again for good measure. He really don't know how to deal with noble types.

The other boy looked so flustered that Aki was worried he addressed him wrong or something.

"No need ta call me such, please. Harry, Harry-kun, or Harry-han is okay."

Aki blushed in embarrassment at his blunder, Harry-han just waved it off, and the butler stood there a little out of place.

"T-then call me Aki too, Harry-han!" He stuttered out, still very much flustered.

"Well then, Aki-han. Nice meetin' ya!"

Their first meeting may have been unusual and perhaps a little awkward, but he felt that they could become really good friends.

* * *

 **AN:**

Hey, all! How do you like this recent chapter? To be honest, I was only planning to make a section of this about their meeting but it turned into this thing. It felt weird to include topics like Harry's flame and bank accounts and protection detail in this chapter full of friendship. Next chapter, that's going to be theme and hopefully, I can tackle all that needs to be tackled before Arc 2. I already have the outline and details ready~ Heck, I got so energetic that I planned all the way until Harry turned 13.

I couldn't find a way to include the Chomping Cabbages here. Maybe next time.

That aside, how many of you thought that the boy he rescued was Tsuna at first? I'm just curious if my attempts of trying to mislead people were at least a little bit successful. Or was the Osaka setting an immediate clue to the contrary?

If you've noticed, I didn't italicize any text. I only italicized it back then since Harry had no clue what it was. Now that he's fluent and that there was only one language spoken in this chapter, I didn't feel the need to include it. For chapters with multiple languages, the italic text will return.

Yes, Harry has Earth flames. I wanted to challenge myself with using flames that the fandom hasn't really touched much. I was at first thinking of Sky, then Lightning, but then I remembered Earth and I just couldn't help myself. And yes, with how I set this up, Miura Aki will be a guardian. I won't have an OC guardian except him. I'll do my best to make sure he won't by a Gary Stu or anything and it would be helpful if you guys would comment about him and how he's progressing. Heck, I'd love to hear input about how all the other characters are progressing. For a clue of how he is as a character, Miura Aki is a combination of Koshimizu Sachiko from Idolmaster Cinderella Girls and Yagami Riku from Prince of Stride.

I'm curious, how do you guys feel about Miura Aki?

If things weren't a little clear, Harry will be older than Vongola X considering Haru's only a baby right now and he's seven. He should be the same age as Xanxus, I think.

Hmm, that's all I can think of right now. Man, this AN is seriously long. So embarrassing.


	12. Arc 1: Beginnings 12

**Chapter Length:** 2, 801 words

 **First Published:** 27 July 2016

* * *

 **In the midst of chaos, there I stood.**

 _10 December 1987 – 3:32 – Somewhere in southern Italy_

Skull ducked under a rather sloppy punch and delivered a super-powered one in return. The poor idiot took to it to his gut and doubled over from the pain. Distantly, he could hear retching sounds in the background but he didn't pay it any attention. He was too busy bashing heads in and making grown men cry.

Earlier that week, Viper had called to cash in a favor. As a new member of the assassin organization Varia, his fellow Arcobaleno didn't really have the access to the resources needed to pull off a large scale annihilation like what they were currently doing. And knowing Viper, she would intentionally get the highest paying job available, even if it was impractically difficult to pull off.

He still wondered how she got said job in the first place, considering that she was a new member. Perhaps it was because she was an Arcobaleno known for her skills or she was _that_ convincing. Knowing her, it leaned towards the latter option, possibly including blackmail or some other nefarious action. Her notoriety as the most ruthless of the strongest seven could have also helped in booking her the job. Even Reborn wasn't as ruthless as her.

Said job was to exterminate the Romano Famiglia who have recently dabbled in child slavery and organ farming. It wasn't long before the Vendice would step in but the Chiavarone Famiglia had hired the Varia to do the job instead. Apparently, one of the ninth boss' kids was captured by the idiotic upstart familgia.

The current mission needed at least a group of seven well-trained hitmen. In Viper's greed, she refused to split the pay with other Varia members willing to do the mission with her. It was only the two of them right now.

The two of them were perfectly enough.

He ducked and rolled away from an axe-wielding bear of a man. The bald idiot was screaming and swinging his axe left and right, not caring that he was injuring his fellow family members in the process. Skull expertly pried a semi-automatic from a slim woman—breaking her neck in the process—and started firing at his enemies. He may normally be a close-ranged fighter, but he knew how to handle guns well enough.

In the midst of chaos, Skull let out his loud and annoying persona. It helped him cope with the brutal actions that he did. If he didn't act like he did, Skull didn't think he would be able to accept himself. He wasn't really much of a killer, but he somehow ended up as one.

"Bow down to the great and almighty Skull! You weaklings don't stand a chance! Mwahahahaha!"

* * *

 **Statistical Anomaly**

 _10 December 1987 – 4:12 – Bluegill Bar, London, England_

After the brutal extermination of the Romano Famiglia and the release of the prisoners (sadly, the Chiavarone heir had been one of the casualties. The Chiavarone Ninth was down to his last child, a young boy a little older than Harry), the Arcobaleno pair found themselves in England, drinking in the bar that was slowly becoming their regular meeting place. Viper even had an Apparition point set up nearby.

Viper was nursing another fruity cocktail and Skull had his ever favorite vodka. They sat in their usual seats of the empty bar, savoring their drinks and enjoying the comfortable silence. It was past its closing time but the owner and bartender was willing to let the two powerful babies stay in. He knew of the Arcobaleno and he preferred being on their good side.

"So, tell me how that brat's doing." Viper turned to her companion. She had plucked out the lemon slice from her glass's rim and started sucking on it. Skull made a face at the action, knowing how sour lemons could be. He would never understand how she could eat any and all fruits, even the sour and bitter ones. She didn't care about his disgust and continued to suck merrily on the lemon slice.

"Well, he's well on his way to learning his third language. I swear, magic is such a cheat. He also recently made a new friend and I'm glad for that." He swirled his glass around, the liquid sloshing at the action. He didn't really know how to open the topic of Harry's flames, so he just bulldozed through it. Looking Viper in the eye he said, "He has Earth flames. I knew he had become flame-active recently but it was only when he rescued his new friend that it physically manifested. I still haven't had the opportunity to let Dr. Subaru check him over. As Harry's flame core is deformed, I don't know how it could cope with his recently activated flames. I don't know how the kid's conscious harnessing of the energy would affect his internal organs. His core's shape not really suited for channeling the amount of flames needed for the energy to physically manifest and interact with the world. Sadly, the doc's been busy with family matters. Something about his wife."

"Interesting," she murmured, mulling over the update. Flames of the Earth were exceeding rare even among the rare flame-active population of the world. Even rarer still were those who manifested the burnt orange Earth flames. Coupled with his magic, the child was increasingly becoming a statistical anomaly. Numbers would tell that the chances of having a magical child with Earth flames were extremely low, nigh impossible. And yet, the young boy continued to break people's preconceived notions without actively trying to do so. Apparently, it wasn't enough that he was able to survive a killing curse.

Truly, that child was special.

Knowing that Harry had Earth flames made a lot of sense, though. The thought of Skull, a normally distant Cloud that even Luce had difficulty Harmonizing with, suddenly bending over backwards to help a random kid was laughable at best. Even if said child was a Sky, the Cloud Arcobaleno should not have Harmonized as quickly as he did. However, with the Earth flame's much more aggressive Gravitation component, it wasn't too difficult to imagine that Skull was caught in the net of a suffering Earth.

What was even more amazing about it, though, was that Harry had not come into contact with another flame-active person prior to Skull. With how strong his Gravitation was (considering how quickly Skull attached himself to the child), he could pull in almost any Free Element that was wandering around the vicinity. London alone had at least fifty flame-active people. Surely the young boy could have come into contact with at least one of them.

Apparently not and it was all for the better. Who knew what other mafiosi would have done to the poor boy? It was a good thing Skull was a fundamentally nice person, even if he was a killer for hire.

A lot of things that happened to Harry should not have happened at all, statistically speaking. Truly an anomaly, indeed.

* * *

 **Anonymity**

 _10 December 1987 – 4:22 – Bluegill Bar, London, England_

Viper had quieted down after he revealed Harry's flames. He let her mull over the details and implications for a while longer before he opened up a topic of concern. "Hey, Viper, what should we do about this? I want to protect Harry but now I also have to worry about the mafia and not just the Death Eaters and those of the magical population who want to do harm to Harry." Skull bit his lip and ran his hand through his hair. He was really worried about this and it showed.

She turned to him, tilting her head in thought. The slice of lemon that she had been absently sucking on earlier was put down on a table napkin and wrapped ready for disposal. She took a long sip of her drinking before replying.

"I believe the mafia is the least of your concerns. They don't even know he exists. You can keep him under wraps and train him up to take care of himself before the mafia population knows about the existence of the tenth Earth in all of history. With you having Gravitated towards him, his flames shouldn't be actively seeking people out. I honestly haven't felt anything but a slight tug the last time I saw him. By the time they know of his existence, Harry should have a complete set of Guardians and a well-running Famiglia to back him up. I'm sure you'll train him up well."

"I'm not Reborn. I…I'm not a good tutor." Skull looked down at his drink in shame. He truly wanted to help Harry but he didn't think he was qualified to do so.

"Thinking like that won't do. You always complain that no one else takes you seriously. They will continue to do so if you don't even believe in yourself. You will be weak for as long as you believe you are weak."

The reprimand was harsh and delivered in a biting tone. Truly, Viper was a very apt name for the woman in front of him. However, Skull couldn't help but smile at her in thanks. It may have been cold, but he knew she cared. What a total tsundere.

"Back to the topic at hand," she huffed, hiding her embarrassment at his thankful smile. "What we need to prepare for is our magical opposition. Just as anonymity is how we can protect the child from the mafia at large, anonymity will also be our shield for him."

"But how? He's pretty much a celebrity of the magical population. Honestly, I'm still surprised no news of his disappearance has hit the newspapers yet." Skull had taken the habit of stopping by the magical alcove in Osaka's Underground to check the news. He couldn't apply for an owl delivery service as his Octopus Keep was warded against such things. He liked to think his wards were top notch and would protect the child from being discovered, but surely the magical world would have had an inkling of the boy's disappearance. Not that he would look a gift horse in the mouth, but it was strange.

"Perhaps they have put too much trust in the wards set up around his previous abode. I had checked in recently and the house was still in top shape even after months of no tenants." She took another sip of her drink before continuing. "Let us be thankful that things have gone so well for now. Of course, that should not allow us to be complacent. For one, we have to find a way around locator spells and the like. The easiest way would be to change his name in mundane papers. Quite a lot of magic like that relies upon the person's name. If there is a dissonance between what they call themselves and what their magical name is, it would be much harder for them to find him. The safest way to ensure that he would not be traced, however illegal it is, would be to change not only his mundane name but his magical name too. The Transvorto Anima ritual would work best."

"But then he'll no longer be who he _is_! He would have no access to his family magic. Core aspects of his personality tied to magic would be _altered_. It's illegal for a reason, Viper, and that it's practically unchangeable after the fact. Tampering with the soul is _dangerous_!" Skull practically hissed, reaching over and gripping the woman's small shoulders. He was a squib but even he knew this.

"And since when did we care if things were legal? Honestly," she huffed, removing his hands from their perch. It was getting uncomfortably tight. "I understand that you're highly protective of the child, but I assure you, it's only illegal because erasing and adding family magic tied to a name is blasphemy for old pureblood families. Imagine if you could suddenly gain Potter family magic by changing your magical name via a simple ritual? Years upon years of careful breeding would be ruined in an instant."

He still didn't look convinced, however, so she pushed the matter further. She had come to care for the child too and she didn't want him harmed because of a silly thing such as the procedure's legality.

(She had always speculated that he had come from one of those rich and old families—considering they dumped him all too readily when they found out that he was a squib—and his reaction to Transvorto Anima hinted at his upbringing. It was also obvious that he was used to house elves even before he had his own, which hinted at a rich childhood that involved said creatures, perhaps many of them. He liked to hide behind heavy make-up, a punk-styled attire and a brash attitude, but he couldn't really hide his sophisticated upbringing from her. His posture was too good and if he wasn't concentrating, his act sometimes slipped. Viper knew her thoughts were swerving off-topic, but she couldn't help but speculate about her long-time…friend.)

"The ritual shouldn't change him as a person like that, fool. You make it sound like the child will become someone completely different. It does not work like that. Family magic is only one aspect of a person. The personality of someone is tied not only to their magic, but also to their memories, feelings, and experiences. At most, changes that come about from the ritual involve small traits—such as the person becoming a little more shy, or a little more thrill seeking—but the core of the person never will become different from a mere fourth-year level ritual."

Skull had a feeling Viper had personal experience with the ritual. Considering that she had always called herself Viper ever since he met her, he had an inkling she used the ritual on herself. She had never introduced a family name to go along with her given name and he knew from Poppo's experience that her magical name really was just Viper. Grudgingly conceding to her points, he nodded before saying his ultimatum, "But Harry has last say."

"Of course. This ritual would not work without a consenting party anyway."

A small pocket of silence enveloped the duo. It wasn't uncomfortable. They just had a lot to think about, most of all the purple haired toddler. Things were changing fast and his new ward was caught in the middle of it all.

* * *

 **Monetary Concerns**

 _10 December 1987 – 4:34 – Bluegill Bar, London, England_

"We have something very important to talk about before even thinking of the ritual, however." Viper's voice cut through the silence and immediately caught Skull's attention. "We need access to his vaults while he still bears the Potter name."

"Is money really all you think about, Viper?" grumbled Skull, eyebrows raised incredulously at his fellow Arcobaleno.

"Of course not, fool, but it is important nonetheless. For one, you obviously need the money to raise the kid. Hits may pay well, but I doubt you'd give the kid nothing but the best education. That needs money. Lots and lots of money."

He could see that she had a point. He conceded and gestured for her to continue.

"Secondly, we don't want anyone else getting their grubby hands on Harry's money and whatever else his parents left him. If and when Harry's pronounced dead after his name change and they can't find him, the Potter fortune will be up for grabs by the nearest of kin. With how interbred the British magical population is, it would most likely lead to another civil war or something equally stupid when those fools cannot decide where the money will go. It would sprout a lot of blood feuds at the very least. The Potters are seriously rich, after all, and everyone would want a piece of that fortune."

Again, he could clearly see that happening in the future. It was scarily accurate, actually, knowing how inter-family politics went. He doubted it changed very much over the years he'd been gone.

"So how are we going to convince the bloody goblins to go along with what we want? It's not like they're very accommodating of humans. Hell, I'd bet they'll try to find some loophole or whatever in their messed-up, self-serving system." It was a fact of life that goblins were one of the most infuriating races to deal with. The stuntman had the pleasure of working with other races, such as centaurs, veelas and vampires, and they never were as difficult to deal with as goblins.

Viper just smirked. "Trust me," she said. "I have my ways."

Skull felt a shiver up his spine. That expression never yielded good things, mostly to his health and safety.

* * *

 **AN** **:**

I apologize for the rather long delay. I had just stared my internship last June and things have been busy. This chapter was also rather difficult to write for some reason. To be honest, I just wanted to cram everything here and get the damn plot moving onward but it has been too long, I feel, since my last update. I should have two more chapters until the next arc but I don't trust myself at estimating these things anymore.

I added some action in the beginning of this chapter to see if things still fit within the rating. What do you guys think? Still within bounds?

A kind reviewer, Alice-Italy-Haruhi, has pointed out that I had some of the ages wrong and I thank them for that. If in the start of canon Xanxus and Dino are 22-23, Tsuna and the cast are 13-14, then Harry and Aki should be 20-21 by canon. So at this point, Tsuna and the cast are 0-1 years old, Harry and Aki are 7 years old, and Xanxus and Dino are 9-10 years old. I hope this clears things up.

Thanks for all the comments on Aki. I admit that his interactions with Harry so far make him out to be a female version of Haru and I apologize for that. I really do want him to come off as more arrogant, self-assured, and approval-seeking compared to Haru. In my mind, Haru is a bubbly and cheerful girl who doesn't really care about other's opinions of her. She's eccentric and she's proud of it. She gathers attention because of her cheer and weirdness, but doesn't really go out of her way to get that attention. I think she's kinda like Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, you know? Aki, on the other hand, craves attention and wants to be in the spotlight. He feels lonely when he isn't surrounded by people and thinks that the best way to be seen by people is to be outstanding and become someone that people look up to. I still have a lot of improvement to do in terms of presenting his character and I will go back and change his interactions with Harry in the previous chapter on a later date.

If you guys have any questions, comments, corrections, or prompts, please do not hesitate to leave a review!


	13. Arc 1: Beginnings 13

**Chapter Length:** 3, 328 words

 **First Published** : 31 October 2016

* * *

 **Sleepover**

 _20 December 1987 – 12:22 – Miura Residence,_ _Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Harry still couldn't believe it. Aki had invited him to his house for a sleepover now that it was winter break and he had finished all of his winter break homework. He still couldn't believe he had a friend who would invite him to their house. Even standing in the Miura residence's front porch didn't feel like reality.

He took a fortifying breath to calm his nerves before ringing the doorbell of the modest home.

It didn't take long for a woman to open the door and invite Harry inside. She was obviously Aki's mother. Her long, chestnut hair and brown eyes were traits that she had passed on to her son. She even had a mole on the left side of her cheek just like Aki did.

"Good day, Miura-han. I am de Mort Harry. Please call me Harry." The young child bowed in greeting. He then presented the paper bag he had been holding onto to the older woman. "Please accept this gift as thanks for having me. There are a bunch of different tarts inside that I baked."

"Good day, Harry-kun! My, my, such a polite young man. And wow, you must be very skilled in the kitchen. Thank you." Miura Akari smiled at him. She gratefully took the package. "Lunch will be served in a bit. Go ahead to the living room where Aki-chan has been waiting for you. It's the first door to the right."

Harry nodded and took off his shoes before putting on some guest slippers. His steps made pit-pat sounds against the carpeted hallway which made him giggle a bit. He didn't even know why, since there wasn't anything special about the sounds. Perhaps he was just that excited.

He entered the living room and couldn't help the awed sound that escaped his lips. The whole room was decorated in a lot of different Christmas themed décor. Christmas lights were hung up in different patterns that he knew would look amazing once they'd be turned on later tonight. There was a small Christmas tree in the far corner decorated very brightly. It now looked more red than green with the large amount of decorations slapped onto the tree. He could tell that Aki had decorated this tree. His favorite color was red and it showed.

"Yo, Harry-kun!" Aki called out to him from his place on the sofa. On his lap was his baby sister who was busy sucking on a pink and yellow pacifier. Off to the side, Aki's father Miura Toshiyuki waved at him before going back to his book.

"Heya, Aki-kun! Hello there, Haru-chan! Good afternoon, Miura-han!"

Once he had said his greetings, he settled down on the sofa next to Aki. He gave Haru-chan a little tickling and the cute baby giggled. Harry laughed along.

Having a friend was amazing.

* * *

 **The goblins and Viper's questionable friendships**

 _23 December 1987 – 10:00 – Gringotts Bank, Green Square, Moscow, Russia_

Skull couldn't help the smile that escaped. Seeing young Harry wide-eyed and amazed at seeing a magical bank really tugged at his heartstrings. The little boy clung tightly onto his much smaller arm and stared unabashedly at the comings and goings of the bank-goers.

They had entered the Russian branch of Gringotts for two reasons. For one, the Russian magical government was distant with the British magical government after the first blood war that they refused to take part in the most recent events. The Russian magical population shouldn't recognize Harry Potter over here. Of course they weren't slack and gave him a temporary dye job to give an extra layer of defense. Skull didn't have any other dye except purple and seeing Harry in his color made something stir in the hitman's heart. He wasn't sure what it was, however. Pride? Protectiveness? Happiness? Whatever it was, it was a positive feeling.

The second reason was because Russia was Viper's territory. She was born and raised in Moscow and knew the magical community here more than Skull knew how to put on his makeup. She had connections to her connections and she wasn't afraid to use them for the most nefarious of deeds. His fellow Arcobaleno scared him and he was glad she was on their side.

The Gringotts in Moscow didn't look all that different from all the other Gringotts branches he had visited before. Did they use a single template in building their banks? He didn't really know and he was afraid to ask the goblins. They had a reputation of stabbing nosy people.

It didn't take long for them to find Viper in her iconic hooded robes. Skull was amazed to see that the goblins allowed her to keep her hood up. They were extremely strict about potential thieves that they didn't allow people to cover up their faces in their premises. If you didn't need to hide your face, then you're less likely to have a hidden agenda against them or something along those lines. Viper really must be in good terms with the goblins here.

With a silent nod from the witch, they were escorted down a hallway and into a small office. It yet again amazed Skull that the goblins allowed a human to roam freely around their territory. The tiny witch strolled down the halls as if she owned the place, occasionally greeting goblins along the way with a short, respectful nod—it wasn't quite a bow. Just what kind of relationship did she have with the goblins here?

The room they were escorted to was small and rather bland with a single desk, a large chair behind it and a pair of smaller chairs in front of it. Everything was stiff, plain and very uncomfortable-looking. Even the small, high window just made the room look like a prison cell with office furniture. He wondered if the goblins were just that bad at decorating or this was some strange intimidation tactic. With how little everyone else knew about goblin culture, this could easily be a simple, cultural quirk they had. He doubted that thought the moment it popped in his head, however, considering their ruthless behavior and infamous reputation. This room was built to intimidate.

When Viper sat down on one of the stiff and painful-looking chairs, it only took a little bit of hesitance from Harry and a small nod from Viper before he too sat down. Without prompting, the young child gathered Skull into his arms and sat him on his lap. The Cloud Arcobaleno could feel his colleague's eyebrows raise at that action even if he couldn't see the upper half of her face.

"Force of habit," he explained with a sheepish smile. Once Harry got strong enough to lift him (it really amazed him how big a difference a proper diet and some supplements did to the child's health. He may be a little short but he was steadily gaining fat and muscle), the child took it upon himself to lift his guardian around whenever it was needed. Skull thought that this was his charge's way of doing something for him and so he allowed it even if he could easily do things on his own. He wanted Harry to feel like he was wanted and needed and not a burden. The young child already thought he was useless and the hitman really wanted to change that thinking.

Viper just shrugged in reply as if saying, "Oh, okay, whatever." She could speak just fine but there were times, like now for instance, that she didn't feel like it and it was up to the other person to understand her. He had gotten used to her strange ways and could easily interpret those simple gestures. Hell, he could remember that one time she didn't feel like talking for a week and they had to work together. It was hell for him.

It didn't take long for a goblin to come into the office and sit on the chair behind the desk. He was obviously a high ranking officer or something, because his uniform was decorated with some pins and his weapon looked better than the other goblins'.

The goblin ignored the currently purple-haired duo and turned to the hooded witch and promptly spoke in Gobbledygook. Skull was so boggled to hear Viper reply in the harsh language with fluency. The goblins were so very overprotective of their culture that any other race that was interested in learning, even those with pure intentions, were immediately shot down and treated as enemies.

How the fuck is Viper in such good terms with the goblins?! It shouldn't be humanly possible.

* * *

 **That's what precious people are for**

 _23 December 1987 – 10:16 – Gringotts Bank, Green Square, Moscow, Russia_

Harry was bored but he did his best to sit up straight and pay attention. Aunt Petunia may have been mean to him but Poppo had explained to him that the manners she (painfully) taught him were important.

The young wizard didn't understand much of what was going on. All he knew was that they were going to the bank to get the things his parents had left for him when they died. Uncle Skull did his best to explain everything to him but inheritance laws and all the technicalities went over the young boy's head. He did his best to understand and did promise to himself to learn about it some more when he had more foundation in his magical studies, but trusted Uncle Skull to do what was best for him. He wasn't afraid of what was going to happen even if he didn't understand everything.

There was a lot of talking involved between Mr. Viper and the goblin, and Uncle Skull was shocked at something that Mr. Viper said or something. Harry wasn't too sure because he didn't understand the language they were using.

He really wanted to know the language they used. He hadn't brought along any of those special candies since he was confident in his Russian and he now regretted that he didn't bring any. He resolved that he'd always bring those candies from now on. He recently realized that he loved knowing many different languages and comparing the nuances between them. So far, his favorite was Italian.

Sometime during the talk between Mr. Viper and the goblin, they switched to Russian and Uncle Skull joined in the discussion.

"So you want to get all of the Potter's fortune and transfer it to another name?" the goblin sneered.

Without batting an eyelash, Uncle Skull said, "Yes, under the will of the last living Potter, Harry over here."

Uncle Skull gestured to said child, who blushed at being in the spotlight and shyly waved at the goblin. "Hello, sir," he said.

The goblin Mr. Slasher (Harry belatedly realized his name written on a tag pinned to his uniform) leaned down his desk and stared at the young wizard. Harry was getting nervous at the intense gaze and wanted to protest at the oppressive action. However, he knew that would be rude and that they were the ones asking for a favor, so he put up with it and nervously smiled at Mr. Slasher.

The goblin smiled, full of sharp teeth that promised pain to others.

"Let's see if he passes the inheritance tests and we'll talk from there," said Mr. Slasher with an increasingly scary grin. Harry now understood why Uncle Skull told him to be careful around the race of shrewd beings.

He held Uncle Skull tighter to draw in support. Harry knew that his new guardian would never, ever being him to harm on purpose. He trusted the smaller adult and knew this meeting was important. He also knew it was okay to be afraid—Uncle Skull stressed this—and that he should lean on others whenever he was afraid.

That's what precious people were for, he said.

Gathering courage from the tiny adult in his arms, Harry nodded with conviction. He was ready. His glowing, burnt orange eyes told the world he was ready.

Mr. Slasher's smile grew even wider, as impossible as it seemed.

* * *

 **Guardian, Not Guardian**

 _23 December 1987 – 10:25 – Gringotts Bank, Green Square, Moscow, Russia_

Skull held his breath throughout the inheritance rituals. It was very simple, really. A drop of blood and a surge of magic into a special stone tablet filled with more runes than he could count was all that was required of his young charge. That didn't stop his blood from boiling and his soul to cry out at the obvious distress on his charge's face. Young Harry was strong and brave to keep doing this even if he was scared.

The Cloud Arcobaleno was a little disoriented with the soul resonance he was feeling for Harry. He knew this wasn't exactly Guardianhood. One needed to be of the same Flame class for that to happen. Only when either Harry was a Sky or he was the Cloud equivalent in the Earth spectrum would a proper Guardianship bond would form.

It really surprised him how strong the bond they shared was regardless of their differently classed Flames. Harry really viewed him as special and so did he for the young child. It really touched his heart.

The inheritance tests concluded without fanfare. Harry was proven to be a Potter and Slasher was giddy at that thought for some reason. Skull's overprotective Cloud instincts were screaming at the goblin's predatory smile and once Harry was back in seat (with the toddler-sized adult comfortably in the child's lap), it took all of the Cloud's self-control to keep his flames from leaking out into the visible spectrum.

The tension still lingered in the air and Slasher's smile just grew wider.

It was only Harry's gentle grip on his guardian that kept Slasher safe and whole and everyone knew it.

* * *

 **The New Me**

 _23 December 1987 – 13:36 – Gringotts Bank, Green Square, Moscow, Russia_

"So, what new name do you want to use from now on, kid?" Uncle Skull asked.

They had been cooped up in the small office for a few hours now, signing papers and reading contracts and fine print to transfer Harry's considerably large inheritance to a new account under his new name. All they needed to do now was to change his magical name.

The magical process to change his name was not all that complicated and was almost complete. The only thing left to do was to write his new name on a parchment with a special mixture of blood and ink. The parchment would then be burnt and mixed into the rest of the potion he had to drink later. Young Harry understood the basic concept of potions in that the magic put all the ingredients together in a way that they wouldn't taste like their individual parts—quite unlike cooking—and so he wasn't as grossed out at the thought of drinking something that contained dead insects and questionable animal parts as he normally would be.

Harry knew Uncle Skull was very curious about the name he chose. He purposely kept it a secret from everyone else as a surprise and he was honestly nervous about actually saying the name out loud. He had thought about this long and hard ever since it was explained to him a month or so ago—how he needed to change his name to protect him from the mean magicals that might come to get him.

This was going to be his name from now and it had to be special.

"I want my first name to be Harrison," the small child stated. He started out meek when faced with the scary goblin's grin but his conviction was clear.

"Why Harrison?" Mr. Viper asked. Even Harry could tell the normally stoic tiny adult was curious.

"I can still be Harry this way but be a different Harry. My parents gave me my name and I want to keep something of theirs in my new name," he shyly replied. Was it a bad choice? He really liked Harry as a name. He couldn't think of himself as anything else but Harry.

He actually also considered Henry as a name, since the research he and Poppo did in the library told him that the name Harry was based on that name. The young wizard didn't like it however. It didn't felt like it suited him.

The house elf then suggested Harrison. He said that it normally meant "son of Harry", but in Harry's case, it would mean like a rebirth from the old Harry. The young boy didn't really get it much of the poetry and symbolism that Poppo expressed, but he got the gist of it and thought it was a cool name.

He was worried that it wasn't cool enough but Mr. Viper just smiled.

"It's a good first name," the cloaked adult reassured him.

Harry felt so much relief there. Uncle Skull was also smiling supportively at him. He was so blessed to have these two look after him.

"Any middle names? What about the family name?" Mr. Slasher's voice cut the warm atmosphere suddenly—quite like his name, honestly.

"Oh, um, no middle names," the child replied, a little startled. He almost forgot Mr. Slasher was there with how quiet he was. "No other name really fits, I feel."

He had been thinking about a Japanese name for a while, since he'd be staying in Japan for a while to come and wanted to fit in better. But when he looked up Japanese names along with Poppo, nothing really called out to him. He initially contemplated names like Touki and Sueki but it just didn't feel right.

"As for my family name, well…" Harry trailed off, suddenly self-conscious and embarrassed. Seeing the encouraging looks of Uncle Skull and Mr. Viper, the young boy gathered courage from deep within and stuttered out a name.

"D-d-de Mort."

Shocked, surprised silence rang through the small, oppressive office. It soon gave way to an insecure Harry's babbling.

"I-I mean, you told me to use that name when I introduce myself to others. I used that name when I introduced myself to Aki-kun and well, m-most family members share a name, right? And, and you're my uncle now, right? Right? I mean, if it's not too much trouble, of course. If you don't like it, I'd understand. Other names sound nice too, like, like Brown or Black. They're common enough, right? Or since we're living in Japan anyway, maybe Yamada or Honda or something is common enough. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say something stupid. Of course, you're already taking care of me and I really can't even be more of a burden to _ask_ to have your family name. Oh I am so sorry for even—"

The young child's nervous babbling was cut short when a pair of smaller, stronger arms wrapped around him.

"Shh, Harry. Calm down," Uncle Skull whispered gently. He started running comforting circles across the child's back. "I'd be honored if you'd take on my name."

Harry cried in relief, not even caring that Mr. Slasher or Mr. Viper could see him. He was just so happy to be accepted. A part of him thought that perhaps he should have run things through with the older man, but he didn't care about that right now. He was accepted.

Oh, he understood how strange it sounded. Harrison de Mort. He knew that his parents' killer was a man who call himself Voldemort—flight from death, if he understood it correctly. Having a name similar to that man would be strange but he didn't care. Skull de Mort was his family now and he wanted to be closer, as close as he could. A part of him thought that, perhaps, sharing a name would make the adult care for him even more. That, perhaps, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia treated him badly because he had a different name.

He was now going to be Harrison de Mort and he was going to live proudly under that name.

* * *

 **AN:**

Here's the most recent chapter and the end of the first arc, Beginnings! Harry is now established in his new life under the Cloud Arcobaleno Skull. What adventures await him now? Next chapter will be a little transitionary chapter, a Daily Life kind of thing like in the KHR anime, before we head onto the second arc, Welcome to the Mafia. I'm pretty excited hehe, though by my estimates, the next chapter shouldn't come until December and the new arc won't happen until at least January of next year. Things have been busy for me lately, since I'm in my last year of schooling.

What theories do you guys have about Viper's relationship with the Russian goblins? I honestly had so much difficulty with this chapter, mostly coming from Harry's name. Rather anti-climatic, I feel, but I scrapped using Skull's pureblood name for plot reasons in the future. :3

A guest reviewer, **KK** , has commented something about Harry not being a toddler. I don't understand what exactly you mean. I have established that Harry is seven years old. Does he act much younger than he should? I'm aiming this question to everyone, since I do worry that I'm making him too immature, though I do believe that a traumatized child would cling on. I'm honestly basing most of Harry's reactions to my own little cousin who's seven.

Also, I've edited Chapter 11 and people may want to read back to see the changes between Harry and Aki's interaction.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a review or a PM. I thank all those who reviewed and I do make an effort to read through them and reply. Thank you for reading this little thing.


	14. Interlude: Merry Christmas!

**Chapter Length:** 2, 686 words

 **First Published:** 22 December 2016

* * *

 **Precious Child**

 _24 December 1987 – 8:22 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Poppo let out a fond, exasperated sigh at the mess his Young Master had made in the kitchen. Young Harry had begged and begged him to teach him how to make Master Skull's favorite dessert and the normally strict house eventually elf relented-his Young Master was very persistent.

They had started earlier that morning while Master Skull was still asleep. Bowls, pans and multitude of ingredients were laid out on the many counters of the kitchen, not an empty countrer top spared. The once pristine kitchen was now covered in splatters of batter and remnants of egg shells. It looked like a warzone or as if a storm had raged within the kitchen. The child had tried his best to keep things clean—truly, he did—but after a frantic rush to save a platter of ingredients from falling, Poppo had given up hope of his territory getting out of this without a scratch.

Young Master Harry meant well, bless his heart, but he was clumsy. The house elf knew it was the effect of his recently unlocked flames. It was normally not advised for children to unlock their flames because it interfered with quite a few of a growing child's bodily functions. The younger the child unlocked their flames, the more difficult it was for them to control their limbs. One needed to properly train the child to control their flames before even thinking about training their bodies. Master Skull had a lot of work cut out for him in order to ensure Young Master Harry's ascent to becoming a leader.

"I think...I think I got it right, Poppo!" Young Master Harry cheered, proudly laying down a tasty looking black forest cake. He fumbled along the way but the cake remained safe and whole.

"Congratulations, Young Master. You worked really hard to accomplish this and I am sure Master Skull will be pleased with your Christmas gift for him."

The young child beamed at the house elf, cheeks covered in flour and chocolate sauce. He was a mess but Poppo couldn't help the fond smile that graced his face. Truly, this child was precious.

"Come now, Young Master. Allow me to help you bathe."

"P-poppo! I can bathe myself! Please don't!"

The child's embarrassed face was precious too.

* * *

 **First Christmas**

 _25 December 1987_ _– 5:13 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Harry was excited. This was going to be the first Christmas celebration he was allowed to join in and he was _excited_. The sun had barely risen from the sky yet the young child was already running around like a hyperactive chipmunk. The young child was really excited. Seriously excited.

"Ahaha! Slow down, squirt. Run around like that and you'll hit something along the way," Uncle Skull chastised him.

Harry blushed in embarrassment at his blunder but he couldn't help it. It was Christmas morning at last and _he was excited!_

They had just come down from the bedrooms upstairs and were making their way down to the living room for a simple Christmas celebration. Harry had difficulty sleeping that night because he was seriously looking forward to this day. He was _so_ ready for this. He could always take a nap later if he felt tired. The child was currently in his pajamas as he ran around the humble home and into the decorated living room. He was practically vibrating in joy and some of the furniture spontaneously changed color as he passed by. His joy was even affecting his accidental magic.

The living room was filled with all sorts of both mundane and magical décor. Christmas lights were off limits, as the living room could not accommodate electrical devices unlike the specialized electronics room. Instead, Poppo had made use of floating candles of multiple sizes, shapes and colors to bring some Christmas cheer into the house. The simple, normally beige colored room was now an explosion of color—reds, greens and multiple shades of gold and silver now covered every inch of their home. Plastic candy canes and moving angel figurines littered the Christmas tree, shelves and tabletops.

No matter how many times little Harry saw this colorful display, he never got bored of it. Back then with the Durselys, he would normally spend Christmas being loaned off to random old ladies and teenagers needing some cash while his relatives went around travelling. Although he saw different types of decorated homes, his Christmases were always empty and lonely.

Well, not anymore.

Harry grinned an ear-splitting grin at his guardian and uncle. The older man just smiled fondly and ruffled the child's messy black hair. Harry yet again giggled in happiness at the familiar and kind action. This was family, he felt. He had never been happier.

Soon enough, the child reached the humble pile of presents under the very bright Christmas tree. This was the moment of truth. He was...he was...going to open presents! Something he had never done before. He was...he was…

Without him knowing, tears fell down his face. He was surprised when Uncle Skull and Poppo looked at him with concern.

"You okay, kid? Why are you crying?" Uncle Skull reached a small hand to his cheek to wipe away some stray tears.

"I'm alright, Uncle Skull. I've...I've just never been this happy before. I'm...really overwhelmed," he replied with a teary smile. He couldn't help it. He was just so, so _happy_. He hoped this happiness would last forever.

Uncle Skull laughed and rubbed his hair again. His uncle was very fond of messing up his hair, not that he minded at all. Even Poppo let out a smile at the display.

"Alright then, kid. How about you open up those presents your precious people gave you?"

Harry wiped his tears on his pajama sleeve and turned to Poppo.

"Before that, Uncle Skull, you need to get my present first. I worked really hard for it and had help from both Poppo and Aki-kun. I really want to thank you for doing all of this for me. You didn't have to but you did so anyway. So yeah. Let me just go get it, okay?"

He stood up from his seat on the couch and ran to the kitchen. Distantly, he could hear Poppo calling after him to slow down.

"Young Master! Let me help you!"

Harry just laughed in joy. He was really, very blessed. And he was gonna make his most precious person know that he was appreciated.

* * *

 **The Spirit of Christmas**

 _25 December 1987 – 5:22 –_ _Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Skull gasped in surprise at the silver platter that was laid down in front of him. Poppo had insisted that he use his magic to carry it and the squirt relented when faced with the house elf's hard logic.

"You don't want to drop it in your excitement, now do you?"

With a snap of his fingers, elf magic saturated the air and the cover lifted, displaying a lovely black forest cake.

"I made it with Poppo's instructions. I wanted to make a gift for you to show how much I'm really thankful, Uncle Skull. I heard that you liked this kind of cake, so...yeah. I hope you like it!"

Harry nervously smiled at him. The sweet child was very earnest in his feelings and Skull felt warmth course through his heart. This kid would be the death of him, with his slightly watery green eyes, messy black hair and that endearing smile that made his insides turn into goop.

With another snap of his finger, Poppo laid down a slice of the cake on a small plate with a fork along with it. The floating utensils gently laid themselves on the small hands of the Cloud, cake ready for consumption.

"Wow, kiddo! This looks really good! Thanks so much!" Skull was practically salivating. "Can I go ahead and eat it?" He hadn't had breakfast yet, but a little indulgence every now and then wasn't so bad.

"Of course, Uncle Skull! I really hope you like it. I had to try multiple times to get it right," Harry bashfully replied. It was obvious he was nervous about how the Arcobaleno would judge his creation.

Not that Skull cared about how the cake tasted like. His little charge was so heartfelt in creating and presenting it that this was already the best gift he had ever received. With shining eyes and a happy smile, he took a large bite out of the daintily sliced cake.

The cake was a little dry and a bit too sweet for his tastes but that didn't matter at all. For a seven year old to have created this…

"Wow! It tastes really good, kiddo! Thank you so much!"

The relief on the child's face was palpable. Skull could feel the air shiver with the child's magic.

"Th-thank goodness…" Harry mumbled, almost collapsing on the floor.

"Whoa! You okay, kid?!" Skull laid the tiny plate of cake on a nearby table and rushed to the child's side.

"S-sorry. I was so...so _nervous_ and now I'm not and now I lost feeling in my legs," the child let out a weak laugh. "I'm so silly. But I'm super happy that you like my gift, Uncle Skull. Well, there's another gift but my legs are tired. Um, Poppo, can you please get the green paper bag with the little jingle bells printed on it?"

It was obvious that he still felt uncomfortable asking for help from the house elf but he knew he needed it. Skull just continued to hug Harry while Poppo went to do his assigned task. This was a very emotional morning for the child and he needed as much support as he could get.

"Sorry about this, Uncle Skull. It's so embarrassing…" Harry looked like he was close to crying again. "This was supposed to show my thanks for all that you did for me but I'm being a weirdo and crying about it. I messed up, didn't I? I'm sorry."

"Hush, child. It ain't nothing at all. I know you just got overwhelmed is all. No need to apologize," Skull assured him, hugging him tighter.

"Th-thank you. You're too nice, Uncle Skull," Harry smiled at him and he could see the absolute _love_ in the child's eyes. Skull felt like crying himself.

It was obvious to the Arcobaleno that his house elf waited until the finished their moment before arriving with the wrapped package. Poppo was a very considerate house elf and Skull felt thankful for that accidental meeting. He had come to rely on the elf more than he realized.

Gently arranging his young charge to lie down on his lap instead, the hitman carefully opened the brightly colored gift bag. Harry looked up at him with anticipation and the older man, as if he was the one receiving the present and not giving it.

Encouragingly smiling at the child, Skull opened the present. He gasped in surprise at what was inside.

"Is this a scarf?" he asked as the removed the contents. It was a child's scarf that would fit his small form properly, colored a deep, rich purple. Along the length of the knitted cloth, a series of tiny octopi with varying expressions and poses were gently knitted in white.

"Yep! I asked Aki for help in this one. He taught me how to knit and even helped me with the first drafts. This final one is the one I made completely by myself. I hope you like it!" Energy returned to the child after his emotional moment earlier and he was practically glowing with pride at his work.

"Wow, kiddo. This is extremely well made. Thank you so much." He was in awe at what his young charge has accomplished in such a short time. After admiring the intricately made scarf some more, he wrapped it around himself. He thought it would look great with his jumpsuit.

"I'm really happy you like it, Uncle Skull. I did my best for you, since you always do your best for me." Harry smiled widely at him and Skull vowed that he would do anything to keep that smile on his charge's face.

"You know what's next, right? Your turn to open presents!"

If he was smiling widely before, Harry was now _beaming_. The sounds of childish, innocent laughter filled the humble home, making it so much brighter than it ever did before. Skull's heart was almost about to burst with all the happiness he was feeling.

He will never forget this Christmas day.

* * *

 **To a Friend**

 _24 December 1987 – 23:34 –_ _Varia Castle hidden somewhere in Sicily, Italy_

Viper was annoyed. The Varia members were noisily partying downstairs now that it was Christmas Eve. Honestly, for a group of elite assassins, they acted like a bunch of buffoons when liquor was involved. They didn't know how to appreciate drinks like she did.

Grumbling all the more after dodging a stray chair thrown her way, the miniature adult went upstairs to avoid the senseless violence happening in the mess hall. The Varia Castle, even when it was the holiday season, was sparsely decorated and still very dull looking. Not that she minded at all, since Viper honestly thought that Christmas décor was too cheerful, bright, and tacky. Apparently, a lot of the Varia members thought the same too.

Tiredly opening the door to her room, she was ready to take a bath and just sleep. Dealing with the rowdy bunch downstairs had drained whatever energy she had left after another hellish mission. Let it not be said that assassinations were tiring, even more so if the target had experience in magic. Perhaps a vacation was in order? She did have a large stockpile of money now, and perhaps the goblins in Russia would appreciate the visit. Maybe she'll stop by tomorrow.

Before she could strip her clothing and enter the bathroom, Viper's eyes fell upon a rather large box just to the side of her bed. Did Skull send in something again this year?

Curious, she sat down on her bed and opened the box. It was clearly addressed to her and was written in Skull's messy scrawl.

" _Merry Christmas! We think you might need some cheering up so here's a package from everyone at Octopus Keep!"_

Most of the box was filled with strawberry milk and Poppo's lovely, well grown berries. In a small, sealed envelope was a wad of cash that made her smile. Trust Skull to know exactly what she wanted.

The odd one out in the whole box was a brightly colored, jingle bell patterned gift bag. It was from Harry and he was thanking her for helping him out of the Dursleys mercies.

"Mr. Viper, huh?" a small, satisfied smile escaping her lips after reading the child's letter addressed to her. She always found satisfaction in confusing others with her gender.

Inside the gaudy paper bag was a wonderfully made scarf and a small strawberry short cake. From the child's letter, he had made everything himself.

"Impressive," she mumbled. Although said in her usual monotone, her eyes clearly showed her appreciation of the child's skills. Not that anyone could see that with her hooded cloak on.

The scarf was a tasteful indigo and was patterned to look like a snake's scales. It was beautiful and would go well with a black sweater she bought a while back. All it needed was a good skirt and perhaps some boots and the ensemble was complete.

She might like to confuse people of her gender, but that didn't mean she didn't like to dress pretty. Perhaps she'll wear this tomorrow when she'd visit the goblins.

Contentedly, she took out some strawberry milk, heated it up in a microwave, and started eating the strawberry shortcake that Harry had baked for her. There was no such thing as too much strawberries.

Life was good. She'll think about what gifts to give in return later. She may be a greedy, money obsessed woman but she knew when to be thankful.

* * *

 **AN:**

A Merry Christmas to everyone! I was planning to post this on the 24th, but I'll be visiting the mountains by then so I better do this now since I won't be able to connect to the Internet until the 27th. Anyway, Silver Lining has passed it's first birthday too! It's amazing that I actually kept this story up, considering the amount of stories I posted before but tore down after I couldn't think of what to write after a few chapters. I should tend to my other stories lol.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this short Christmas-themed interlude. Who else wants to see Viper in her cute outfit? I do, and I think I might doodle something in the future (I seriously should make a cover for this fic). The next chapter will be the start of the second arc and I plan to let it have longer individual chapters but be shorter in the number of overall chapters compared to the Beginnings arc. The estimated chapter number should be around seven and each chapter should be around 5K words long. It should still be as long as the first arc, just not cut into so many, many pieces because of my lack of planning.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season~


	15. Arc 2: Welcome to the Mafia! 1

**Chapter Length:** 4, 729 words

 **First Published:** 24 January 2017

* * *

 **New Year, New Routine**

 _13 March 1988 - 5:16 - Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Harry energetically turned off the alarm before it could ring and started with his morning rituals. He washed his face of morning gunk, brushed his teeth, and changed out of his pajamas into simple workout clothes. Ever since he got to the desired weight as advised by Dr. Akasaka, Uncle Skull had put together a simple exercise regimen that would build the foundations for further martial arts studies. Harry understood the importance of knowing how to defend oneself and was looking forward to the day when he could move on to a more serious training regime.

Although the discussion was light and was separated into bite sized chunks, Harry understood that his adoptive uncle had a shady job that would most likely bring harm to his precious people if they didn't know how to defend themselves. The young wizard may not know much about the mafia or the illegal things that his uncle did, but he believed that his uncle was a good man that would never hurt innocent people. And so he would continue to faithfully follow and trust in the cursed adult even if others would say otherwise.

He was determined to start his day right. After drinking a healthy amount of water, the child went out to the yard to begin some light stretching and some laps around the grounds. He had asked before why his training was so light compared to what he would see his uncle do, but the cursed man and Dr. Akasaka explained that his body was still growing and intensive training would be bad for him. Plus, his clumsiness could seriously injure him and he can't train in more delicate things until he and Uncle Skull could address said problem.

After finishing his stretches, he went on a light jog around the property. Every now and then he'd pass by the garden with Poppo tending to the magical plants. The house elf would indulgently return any and all greetings and energetic hand waves that Harry would give, even if they had greeted each other just moments before on the child's prior lap.

Harry was a seriously energetic morning person, something his Uncle Skull could never understand. Even the cool, late winter morning air didn't do anything to dampen his spirits.

After his exercise and subsequent cool down, Harry would take a short shower and would dress up for the day. It would then be time to learn how to cook from Poppo and to help him with breakfast. It has his favorite time of the day, as the house elf was a good and funny teacher and cooking was fast becoming his favorite hobby.

After a hearty breakfast and drinking his supplements (both of mundane and magical in nature), he'd have free time to do whatever until Uncle Skull would wake up, get ready for the day, and eventually teach him more about the mafia. On days when Uncle Skull had a job to do, Harry would sometimes find himself in the park or meeting up with Aki after his classes ended.

He was going to enroll in the elementary school that Aki went to come April and he was looking forward to that. Once he'd be schooling again, his morning routine would stop at breakfast and him walking to school after that. Once school starts, he would have to adjust to a new schedule, such as mafia or magical studies being tackled on weekends or days when there was hardly any homework. For now, he had to make sure he wouldn't be caught behind his peers.

He opened his first grade math workbook that was almost finished and started filling in the answers, even if it was his break. He had to make sure all of Uncle Skull's support of him wouldn't go to waste, after all.

* * *

 **First Day of Flame Training**

 _15 March 1988 - 10:12 - Octopus Keep Dojo, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

"As you know, unlocking your flames too early makes it difficult for you to control your limbs. Current research courtesy of that troublesome Verde has revealed that these unlocked flames coursing through a growing child's limbs prevent a smoother, gradual growth that happens naturally. Flame induced growth happens in rapid bursts with long periods of stagnation," lectured Skull to a very attentive Harry in the designated training area. "It's rather similar to how metamorphamagi are notoriously known for their clumsiness. If the change in size is too rapid and too great, the brain has difficulty adjusting to what it thinks is the arm's length and what that arm's length really is."

The training area they were in was just a simple dojo. It was done all traditionally just the way Skull liked it (he had loved Japanese culture ever since he was a child still living in Britain), but with many engraved runes courtesy of Viper that prevented damage happening to the highly flammable materials. The dojo looked so out of place in the middle of a well kept magical garden behind an English townhouse, but the Cloud never really cared for other people's comments about his tastes or skills in landscaping.

Harry was finally healthy enough and approved by his doctor for flame training a few weeks back. It took a lot of testing and observation on the doctor's part to ensure that further training in using flames while Harry's flame core was deformed would lead to no organ failure or other physiological problems. Doctor Akasaka was thorough with his testing and assured Skull that his charge was well enough for training, although he did warn the hitman to be careful and to watch out for the child's condition in every step of the training.

And that is why it was delayed by weeks even after the kind doctor gave his go signal. Skull wanted to make sure he was ready and had the necessary materials and fail safes in place in case of emergencies. One can never be too careful when dealing with Dying Will Flames, because even if they had been using this energy for years now, there were still many mysteries surrounding the colored flames that scientists like Verde were still busy researching about.

That is why before they could even think about accessing and manifesting the spiritual energy into the physical realm, he had to make sure that the child understood what exactly was happening to him and why it was necessary to be careful in training.

"Metamorphamagi are those magical people who have the special ability to transform themselves, right?" Harry asked after raising his hand and being acknowledged by his mentor.

Skull wanted to instil proper manners in the kid, just like how his own mother did before his family kicked him out of the house. He may resent his pureblood ties but he had to admit having good manners came in handy in a lot of situations. Since Harry's flames practically demanded that he become a leader to the flames in the Earth set, Skull took it as his duty to make sure his charge could survive situations that needed high amounts of etiquette. Fellow leaders were attracted to each other, after all. The flames were insistent like that.

He was getting sidetracked.

"Yes that's correct. The Black family in particular is known to produce these special witches and wizards," lectured Skull in his best tutor voice. He initially had doubts of this skill in teaching, but after months of tutoring the child in other more mundane subjects, the hitman had slowly developed self-confidence in his skills.

Teaching was actually pretty fun.

"Now, before we even think about bringing your flames to the surface, we have to make sure you understand your flames completely. You need to know how much of the energy is flowing through you at any given time, as well as how it feels. Is it a harsher, more solid kind of flame or does it lean to a softer, more fluid kind? Even if you have Earth flames, there are many different manifestations of that flame."

At first Harry was nodding along to his lecture but now the child was obviously confused.

"Hmm, think of it like this. You know apples and oranges are different fruits. The different flames are like these different fruits. Storm flames are obviously different from Cloud flames. However, just like there are different fruits, there are also different kinds of the same fruit. Just like how there are red, green, and yellow apples, there are also different 'flavors' or 'tastes' of a single kind of flame. Does that make a little more sense?"

Man, thinking of analogies was difficult. How could Reborn think of these things on the fly?

"Um...I think I understand, Uncle Skull. So I have to understand first how my flames feel and taste before I can use them, right?"

Bless this child and how quickly he could understand things.

"Yep, pretty much. Since you have a basic grasp now, we can move on to testing how your flames feel like. Please sit as comfortably as you can and start with the breathing exercise I taught you last time. However, instead of trying to calm yourself, your goal this time is to...look inside yourself?"

Skull rubbed at his hair and a frustrated sound escaped his lips.

"I'm sorry, kid. I can't think of a better way to describe it, since flames are pretty instinctual. Each person understands it differently from another person, since it's tied pretty closely to a person's soul. This exercise will take time, since you don't exactly know what you're looking for, but it's important we need to take things slowly. You with me so far?"

Harry determinedly nodded and proceeded with working on the exercise as he had no other questions. As enthusiastic as the kid was, the Skull knew that today's exercise would have no results. He was proud of his charge's work ethic but he was still a child. It took him ages to access his own flames back in the day and he didn't expect his young charge to suddenly get it done in three sessions or something.

Oh he knew there was a faster way of doing this, such as using those special bullets that the Vongola developed or whatever alternatives other families have come up with, but he didn't want to endanger Harry with his condition. Who knew what would happen to his flame core if it was exposed to foreign powers?

For now, they would be taking things slow. Besides, Harry was young. He didn't need to know how to defend himself right off the bat.

He was here to protect him, after all.

* * *

 **Adventure**

 _19 March 1988 - 14:12 - Kumorinashi Park, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Harry happily trailed after Aki as they explored the more wooded sections of Kumorinashi Park where they first met all those months ago. The park was surprisingly large even if it was in the center of the city. Aside from a decently sized playground, there was ample picnic space and a lot of jogging room. Families loved to come over here during Sundays and this was a popular date spot for high school students as well. As it was a Saturday afternoon, the crowd was decently sized and the atmosphere was lively. Harry enjoyed the feeling of so much energy around in the air. It was a stark contrast of this time with the Dursleys and he made it a point to always visit the park during peak times. Even if he only sat in the corner, he never felt excluded-eventually, some kids would invite him to play and he would have a fun afternoon.

The pair of friends had visited the park today with a mission. Aki had heard a rumor going around the elementary school about some buried treasure hidden under some tree's thick roots. The young brunette may not exactly believe these rumors easily, but he was also the type who disliked losing. If there really was treasure, he was going to be the one to find it.

Of course, being Harry's best friend, he had also invited the British youth for the adventure. As great as he was in doing a lot of things, his okan had always explained to him that people needed friends. Besides, Harry was fun to be with and he enjoyed being in his company. Aki felt happy that he had a friend in Harry.

"So, where did they say the treasure was?" asked Harry, jogging a little bit to catch up. He had been distracted by a group of younger kids playing with a ball and didn't notice how far Aki had gone ahead. The younger kids looked like they were having a lot of fun.

"They said it was located under the biggest tree's roots. We gotta dig for a bit, that's why I brought along some of okan's gardening spades," Aki replied and gestured to his backpack. He had a giddy smile on his face.

"I've never been on an adventure before and I'm pretty excited. What do we do?"

"Well, adventures are always more fun if we pretend to be explorers like those in movies and video games."

"Oh, oh! Like Indiana Jones?"

"Is that a western character? I dunno about that guy but sure! You can be this Jones guy. I can be...Son Goku!" Aki then did an enthusiastic pose that was a prelude to the famous Kamehameha.

Harry laughed along with his best friend as they walked among the tall trees and did some silly poses. They made up a story where Indiana Jones and Son Goku had to defeat the evil Godzilla from taking the treasure. Some adults who happened to pass by the two children couldn't help but smile at their carefree youth, perhaps even reminiscing about their own childhood.

The two boys spent the whole afternoon in the park, and although they didn't find the treasure, they still had a lot of fun. Harry was so grateful that he had a cheerful friend in Aki. It felt like the whole world was much more bright than it had ever been.

"Let's play again tomorrow, okay?" Aki called to him as he was being pulled along by his mother. The older woman had a fondly exasperated smile on her face at her son's antics.

"You betcha! See you tomorrow, Aki!" Harry enthusiastically waved back before he followed a disguised Poppo back home.

Today was really fun.

* * *

 **Just Another Job**

 _25 March 1988 - 2:12 - Some backstreet, San Juan, Puerto Rico_

Skull carefully adjusted his helmet and made sure it was properly secured on his head before moving along the dark streets of San Juan. The helmet's night vision visor helped him navigate the pitch black darkness of the barely illuminated backstreets of the shadier parts of the city.

His mission was yet again simple. All he had to do was get into a property of his client's rival company and trash the place. He could even get a bonus if he could find some blueprints for a new weapon design that said rival company was experimenting with.

Honestly, Skull was happy for a break from assassination missions. For the past few months, all that had been requested of him was to kill certain individuals in a way that made it look like an accident. He may specialize in those kinds of hits but that didn't mean he enjoyed it. It brought food on the table, sure, but constant killing was fraying his nerves. It was only thanks to Harry's healing presence that he hadn't broke down just yet.

The tiny mafioso stopped at a corner street and peered down at the compound a few meters away. In front of the gates were two guards armed with semi-automatic rifles. Looking around, Skull could tell that the security was lax. Honestly, a part of him was insulted that his client hired him for such a simple job. Well, money was money and the fool was willing to pay a whole lot to have him do it.

Waiting for the opportune moment when both guards weren't looking at his direction, he quickly moved along the shadows and hid behind an unassuming lamp post. As annoying as the curse was, it was really helpful in these situations.

Once again, the guards were sloppy and Skull was able to get behind them and knock them out. No need for careless deaths, after all. Once the guards were tied up and all their weapons taken into custody (he was planning to start teaching Harry how to handle weapons soon and these idiots just practically handed it to him. It would be ungrateful of him to not accept, right?), he quickly moved into the compound. The keys pilfered from the guards made his job so much easier.

The walled compound had many warehouses containing a multitude of weapons as well as a good research facility. His main objective was to destroy the facility. His secondary objective was to pilfer some research data and weapon blueprints. His tertiary objective was to destroy as many stocked weapons as possible.

At first he was excited for the large scale breaking and entering he was going to do but now he was disappointed with the lax security. There was barely any challenge. The infrared lasers were no match for his beefed up helmet and his very convenient size. The security cameras were easy to fool as their sweeping patterns were predictable. The security password-protected doors were no match for his pick-locking skills. Sure, he was no match for those professional thieves as he was mainly a hitman first, but it was laughably easy to guess the password once he figured out the pattern. The silly owners actually had a code for what password the door would be in relation to where it was located. It was actually easy to figure out after the third successfully opened door.

He wished for some more action.

* * *

 **Just Part of the Job**

 _25 March 1988 - 3:09 - A room within the research facility, Unknown Compound, San Juan, Puerto Rico_

The Arcobaleno entered an empty room that, according to his initial scouting, would lead him to the research facility's main storage area. The room was empty and was extremely white. It had white walls, a white ceiling, white tiled floors, and a white door at the very end of everything. It was boringly plain and that made his instincts scream.

On high alert, he was not surprised when a door on the ceiling opened up and a robot of all things descended down.

"Huh. I didn't think they were this advanced in their research," he mumbled, rather impressed with the large, heavily weaponized, vaguely humanoid robot.

The robot locked its sights on him and he smiled. Now this was more like it. He was an adrenaline junkie at heart, no matter how much of a wimp he may seem to others.

The robot let out a series of automatic gunfire. Skull expertly dodged the bullets and his smile grew wider when the room's thick, plated walls allowed the bullets to ricochet. The danger level just increased and he felt a chill go down his spine. This was seriously more like it. Where was this baby all along?!

Dodging the deadly gunfire, Skull's small form was engulfed in his iconic Cloud flames. From his pocket, Oodako's tentacles extended to insane proportions and started swatting the stray bullets away from her master. Covered as she was in Cloud flames, she barely registered the pain of the bullets grazing her fleshy body.

Skull continued to pump flames into his partner until she was the same size as the large robot. Under his command, the large octopus quickly jumped onto the robot and started squeezing. Her agility did not match her large size and the robot was not able to do anything to prevent the speedy octopus from engulfing it.

Heart pounding in excitement, Skull expertly guided his familiar in the most efficient way to destroy the robot. Limbs were brutally removed, wires and metal plates flew into the air, and the scary visage of a gigantic octopus devouring a large robot would make most piss their pants.

Barely five minutes have passed since he entered the room and the robot was now a pile of scrap metal. Oodako quickly shrunk in size once the flames coursing through her body had stopped flowing. Happily crawling up her master, the now tiny octopus gave him a happy hug.

"Did you have fun, girl? It has been a while since you stretched your tentacles in battle, no?" Skull gave her a nice petting, which she happily responded to with happy sound.

"Good job, girl. Come on, let's get this job done and go home to Harry. He said he was hanging out with Aki again today. I want to hear more stories of his shenanigans."

Oodako happily nodded and climbed back into his jumpsuit's pocket. With a happy whistle, he continued on with his mission. He was pretty sure that with this commotion, more security measures would be pitted against him to stop him from reaching his objective.

Well, let them come. He was looking for a little fun anyway. Perhaps this job wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

 **I need a vacation.**

 _26 March 1988 - 3:10 - Octopus Keep, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan_

Skull sighed and flopped down on his office's large, oak table. After every job he had, he needed to process some paperwork to make the flow of money easier and so that contracts won't bite him back in the ass. When he was younger, he thought that having an illegal job like what he had didn't need paperwork, unlike those sad sacks working in those large, corporate business. Sadly, when you get as famous as an Arcobaleno, you gotta make sure your contracts were airtight and waterproof, so to speak. He had experienced way too many people trying to take advantage of him and he would have ended up being in debt if it wasn't for Viper and her mad skills when it came to everything money-related.

He needed a break. As much as he knew he needed money for Harry's care, he also knew that working himself to death would not be good for both him and his charge. Maybe he could bring the kid on a vacation? Some tropical island would be nice right now. Perhaps some time under the sun and in the sea would lower his stress levels. Hmm, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to go.

A knock on his door broke him out of his musings.

"Come in!" he called out.

Young Harry came in with Poppo carrying a small tray of tea and cakes with his magic.

"Good afternoon, Uncle Skull. I thought you'd like a break so I made some cakes with Poppo. Would you like to have some?"

Even after all this time, Harry was still hesitant to ask things of him, even if it was just to spend time with him. Skull knew that Poppo had to convince the child that he needed a break and that he wouldn't mind being interrupted to eat. The kid was still shy at times and he was determined to break him out of that shell. There was no rush, however, and he will help his charge no matter how long it took him to be comfortable with his situation.

"Sure, of course. Go ahead and set that down on the coffee table, Poppo," Skull said with a happy smile at his charge as he went down his plush office chair and went to sit on his office's sofa.

Harry shyly sat down on the sofa across the one he had sat down on as Poppo went about setting the table with his elf magic. With barely any effort from the house elf, the coffee table was set with the proper utensils in the proper way as demanded by nobles. As much Skull wanted to convince his house elf that he did not need these fancy frivolities, Poppo was insistent that he serve his master properly. A part of Skull was worried that Harry would grow up spoiled if he was exposed to these fancy and useless things but so far, the child was still very humble and polite to others.

After setting the table and making sure both of this masters were comfortable, Poppo bowed and left the office.

Conversation did not flow easy at first, since Harry was worried that he was interrupting his uncle's work, but after some light prodding from the guardian, the child happily responded to questions and even opened up his own topics. The afternoon tea was happily enjoyed by both parties as they chatted about any and all things that came to mind.

"And that's what happened with the rabbit and the lettuce covered in hot sauce!" Harry excitedly exclaimed as he shared one of the many adventures he and his friend Aki had gotten themselves into again.

"Man, I feel sorry for the old biker. You were little rascals. Did you apologize properly?" Skull allowed a little steel to enter his voice. He knew that young boys would eventually get into trouble but he didn't really expect it to happen so soon. Harry had been such a little angel this whole time. Was this Aki kid being a bad influence?

His charge solemnly nodded. "Of course. Auntie Akari would not let us go until we apologized to the old man. It was just an accident but we were obviously the cause of the problem. Aki was pouting the whole time, though. I think Auntie Akari really tore into him with a lecture."

A half beat later, Harry asked with a quavering voice, "Will you lecture me too?"

"Nah. I can tell you understand what you did wrong. Lecturing you now would just be useless. Just make sure nothing like that happens again," Skull made sure his voice and expression was serious and that it expressed how disappointed he was in his charge's actions.

"...yeah, I understand. It won't happen again, Uncle Skull," came the ashamed reply. Tears were starting to well up in his charge's eyes.

Silence enveloped the office after that. Skull was worried that he intimidated the child too much. Was he unconsciously taking his stress out on the kid? This was bad. He needed a vacation asap.

"Sorry about that, kid. Was I too scary?"

"...no. I understand you don't want me to do bad things to others. Both of us were wrong. It's okay, Uncle Skull. I'm sorry. I won't do it again," Harry cried.

Skull panicked and hurriedly went to Harry's side. The kid shied away from his touch and he awkwardly held his hands in the air, as if he couldn't decided what to do. Harry continued to cry and Skull seriously didn't know what to do. This was the first time Harry had cried with this kind of emotion while in his care.

"Um, um…" panicked sweat went down his cheek.

Eventually, Harry gathered himself and sent a weak smile to his adoptive uncle. "I'm sorry about that," he mumbled. "I...I suddenly got scared that you got angry but you didn't hit me like Uncle Vernon did, even if I did wrong. Um...thank you."

Skull couldn't help it. He enveloped the child in a hug, squeezing hard and almost crying in relief himself. Harry stiffened in his arms for a bit before eventually relaxing, awkwardly patting his uncle's back.

"What do you say about a vacation to Hawaii, kid?"

"E-eh?" the question seems to have caught the child off guard.

"Yeah. I think I really need a vacation since I don't have good control of my anger it seems. What about it? Wanna go swimming in the beach?"

"I, um, I don't know how to swim, Uncle Skull."

"Then this is a perfect opportunity to learn! How does tomorrow sound?"

"Oh, uh, sure…?"

"Great! Let's pack up and stuff~ Poppo! We're going to Hawaii!"

Harry was confused. Skull was excited. Really, he thought both of them needed this.

"Don't worry, kid! This will be fun!"

* * *

 **AN:**

Good day, everyone~ Here's the most recent installment of SL as well as the first chapter of the new arc! How does everyone feel about the longer chapter? I had a bit of difficulty reaching this length, but it was a challenge I welcome. I tried to add in a bit of action too since this arc will have a bit more of that compared to the previous one.

Does anyone have certain scenes they want to happen? I have a general outline planned out for this arc, but I'm having difficulty with thinking of what to put in between the plot-related scenes.

The next chapter should come sometime in February. I'm trying to challenge myself and seeing if I can update this monthly at the very least.

I hope you guys enjoyed and see you next time! Please leave behind some comments on what you think or any suggestions to help improve this story.


	16. Arc 2: Welcome to the Mafia! 2

**Chapter Length:** 3, 985

 **First Published:** 17 August 2017

* * *

 **Child Predator?!**

 _28 March 1988 - 11:20 - Some corner street, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA_

Harry bit his lip and awkwardly paced in front of what looked to be a bookstore. He just turned his head to the side for just one moment (he saw an amazing balloon this one kid was holding) and suddenly he lost track of where his tiny uncle was. He would have called for Poppo and asked for help at this point, but the house elf opted to stay at their home back in Japan. The island they were in was too far and too unfamiliar for said house elf to apparate to.

Harry as hopelessly lost and he had no idea what to do.

He knew that he should stay still and wait for his uncle to come back. He knew that moving from his spot now would make things even more difficult for his uncle to find him but he was getting really nervous. The people passing by kept looking at him and he just wanted to hide somewhere. At some point, he knew that someone would approach him and he was really dreading that. How would he answer them? Uncle Skull told him to be careful of strangers.

Just as he was worrying about it, a very strange adult approached him. Harry wasn't one to judge strange things, as he knew that being different didn't necessarily mean that it was wrong. The Dursleys may have tried to beat into him the importance of fitting in and being _normal_ , but Uncle Skull assured him that there was nothing bad about being different. His guardian emphasized how amazingly special he was and that that was a good thing. Really, he had magic and was training in using Flames, so he knew he shouldn't judge strange things.

But the adult approaching him was really, really strange. There was nothing wrong about the sunglasses he wore; a lot of tourists wore sunglasses in Hawaii. The weird things about him were his bright blue hair, fashioned into dreadlocks and the dead animal hanging around his neck like a scarf. It looked to be a ferret or something and Harry hoped that it wasn't a real. He had a swagger to his steps that oozed the confidence he had in himself and his style.

Trailing behind him was an older boy with equally... _unique_ fashion. His black hair was partially dyed green. He too had fashionable sunglasses and clothes with loud colors of orange and yellow. He may not have been as confident or graceful as the adult he was following, but he held himself well.

Harry was seriously scared right now. What would he do? What would Uncle Skull do? What would Uncle Skull want him to do?!

"Hello there, little boy. Are you lost?" the strange, blue haired adult asked him.

The man smiled at him and he felt a chill go down his spine. This guy was really scary. Was this what Uncle Skull called a child predator?!

* * *

 **Careless!**

 _28 March 1988 - 11:32 - Some street, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA_

Skull grit his teeth in anger as he weaved back and forth between the foot traffic of the many people in Hawaii. It was during these moments where he wished people just didn't exist. His charge was missing and these slow, blind idiots kept slamming into him or almost stepping on his small form.

He was seriously angry with himself. He should have held Harry's hand! He knew he should have but he had wanted to give his charge some space after he almost snapped at him two days ago. He had gotten used to Japan's relatively safe streets and he wanted to beat himself over the head for his carelessness.

What kind of uncle was he if he lost track of the kid?!

"S-skull?! Is that you?" he heard a voice shout from somewhere behind him. He could care less who it was. He had a child to look for and he didn't need distractions right now.

He sped up his running, weaving through taller people's legs like an expert. He was practically an expert, honestly, what with how long they have been cursed to these small forms.

"Damn it, Skull! Slow down, will you?! What's gotten into you?!" he heard that same, obnoxious voice again.

"Not right now, Colonnello! I am fucking busy!"

He seriously didn't need to deal with the Rain right now. Ugh, he should never have been so careless. From now on, he'll never be this careless. He'll never allow himself to be this careless.

The warm, purple fire of his soul burned in anger.

* * *

 **What just happened?**

 _28 March 1988 - 11:35 - Some street, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA_

Colonnello was taken aback by Skull's rather violent behavior. The junior Arcobaleno was known to be whiny and pretty much a wimp, so it was really surprising for the ex-military man to receive a dismissal like that. That made the Rain curious and he decided to run after the Cloud, occasionally calling for the stuntman to slow down a notch. Not that he was listened to, of course. Honestly, it was kind of worrying how frantic the other was being.

He continued to dodge around the oblivious civilians walking the streets as he chased the blacked haired Skull. That's another thing that weirded him out. Since when was Skull not purple haired? He was pretty sure that the Cloud was naturally purple haired. Did he dye his hair black? Why?

"God damn it, Skull! What's going on?! Do I need to pull out my rifle? Call for Falco?! Oi!"

He continued shouting as he ran, eliciting grumbles of "Noisy, annoying kids" from the clueless, so called adults cluttering the streets. Honestly, if the lackey would just slow down and brief him on the situation, he could help out. It was obvious something was bothering him and it was only right for him to help his fellow Arcobaleno out. Those cursed stuck together, yeah?

They eventually reached a corner street and if Skull was angry earlier, he was enraged right now. Without warning, he jump kicked a man in dreadlocks who was surprised enough that he wasn't able to dodge all the way. The man's chin was nicked and he stumbled back unsteadily. The strange, green-haired kid behind him tried to catch the older man, but the weight may have been more than he could handle, and both of them tumbled down into a mess of limbs.

Skull then turned to a shaking kid who was on the floor, obviously trying to comfort the black haired child. The kid's glasses were askew and he was crying a river.

Surrounding the chaotic events were a bunch of confused civilians who dithered around, not knowing what to do about the casual act of violence.

"Fuck, Skull. What the hell is going on?"

* * *

 **Misunderstanding?**

 _28 March 1988 - 12:13 - Akoni's Bar and Grill, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA_

Mee Noi sat next to his mentor uncomfortably in the nearest restaurant they could find. Sitting across him were two of the Arcobaleno, the blond looking more confused than anything but still was rather intimidating. The black haired one looked pretty embarrassed but the eleven year old knew that underneath the sheepish expression was a scary human being. The black haired Arcobaleno, as embarrassed as he was, still positioned himself protectively next to the bespectacled child.

And therein lies the source of this whole mess, the child named Harry.

Earlier that day, he and his mentor Lussuria were enjoying their vacation in Hawaii. They had a mission in the island that they completed earlier on and were just sneaking in some sun and sea before they had to be back at the Varia base. Things were going well and they were on their way to have lunch when his mentor saw the young boy looking obviously very lost. Lussuria, who always had a soft spot for children, approached the child with the intention to help him find his parents.

His mentor may be notorious in the underworld for his strange sexual preferences but even he had his limits. He may have preferred his men to be younger than him, but he wasn't one to touch children. He drew the line there. He had approached young Harry with no malicious intent, but perhaps that may have been a bad move.

Lussuria was very confident in himself and dressed however he wanted, but even Mee Noi would admit that his mentor was scary and had a weird fashion sense. Harry was obviously scared of the dead ferret scarf his mentor wore and wanted nothing to do with them. His fear may have caused the black haired Arcobaleno to react so violently.

The silence continued to stiffle the atmosphere before the black haired child coughed a bit. All turned to look at him and his green eyes watered from the attention, the tiny hands holding onto a tall glass of water was shaking.

"I-I'm sorry! The, um, water didn't go down right!"

Harry hastily set down the glass, his face burning red from embarrassment. Mee Noi found the child's mannerisms to be cute, though more in a little brother fashion than anything else.

The black haired Arcobaleno comfortingly patted the child's back before turning to the group at large. With the silence broken, he looked more comfortable with the situation.

He bowed in apology at Lussuria.

"I apologize for my rash actions. I had lost track of my charge and acted too hastily."

His blue haired mentor quickly waved off the apologies, a light-hearted laughter escaping his lips.

"No, no! Goodness, no! I totally understand where you're coming from, dear Skull! Honestly, I have lost track of how many times I've worried myself sick over my apprentice here!" Lussuria patted Mee Noi's back for emphasis, the boy almost crashing onto the plate of food in front of him. It took a lot of strength for the young man to stop himself from making a mess of things.

With the tense atmosphere broken to bits, the black haired Arcobaleno and his mentor went on to chat amicably over topics that Mee Noi couldn't really keep up with. Occasionally, the blond Arcobaleno quipped in, but he mostly observed the conversation and the bespectacled child.

Well, all's well that ends well?

* * *

 **Skull, a responsible adult?!**

 _28 March 1988 - 20:35 - Room 304, Shining Sands Inn, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA_

Colonnello still couldn't believe the day's events and the things he had learned. Skull of all people had a charge? Skull the lackey? Responsible over a _child_? That man was practically a child in behavior to match his looks. Surely he wasn't meant to be a guardian over anyone, let alone a young, impressionable, human being!

Concerned, the ex-military man decided to hang out with his fellow cursed man to see how he handled the kid. Surely someone as irresponsible as Skull, who would lose his pacifier if it wasn't permanently attached to him, shouldn't do a good job of raising a child. Hell, he even lost the child in a crowded street earlier today! It was only right for him to check up on their situation, yeah?

So he found himself visiting his colleague's hotel room. It was a pretty good hotel, not too shabby but not really extravagant either. Honestly, it amazed Colonnello that Skull was able to book the damn thing. The occupants looked like regular children to those not in the know. It should have been difficult to get everything to run so smoothly. This place wasn't a mafia-run establishment, so Skull couldn't have pulled the Arcobaleno card.

"Eh, not really. You just gotta now the proper techniques. I've been doing this for years, you know. It's not like I bring my airship everywhere I go!" Skull quipped. It surprised the blonde. Perhaps he had said that aloud?

"Uncle Skull is really good at talking to people! He said it's all about working with people's preconceived assumptions about you and finding a way to take advantage of that!" Harry proudly declared. It was obvious to both adults that he didn't fully grasp what he had just said, but the sheer confidence in this exclamation showed the absolute trust he had in the truthfulness of the statement.

The Cloud had an embarrassed grin and all the Rain could do was send an incredulous expression at his fellow. His face practically screamed, " _What the hell are you teaching this kid?!"_

Harry continued preparing for bed, unaware of the strange reactions of the blond. Colonnello was honestly amazed at how _innocent_ the kid was. He had a cheerfulness in his step and whenever he caught Skull's eyes he would smile so brightly, it was as if a Sun user had spread healing flames all over the room.

It was obvious to him that the kid loved Skull. It was as if the Cloud was Harry's light in the world, and if he read the expression in those purple eyes right, it was a mutual feeling. Skull really, truly cared for the kid.

Huh.

* * *

 **You take that back!**

 _28 March 1988 - 20:48 - Room 304, Shining Sands Inn, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA_

"I'm amazed you're doing so well, kid. The lackey over here doesn't really have a glowing resume of being an upstanding adult," Collonello said casually, as if commenting on the weather. To him, Skull's incompetence was the absolute truth. He didn't think the noisy lackey had much going for him, even if he tried his best.

"He's always been stupid, so I didn't think he'd take anyone in," the blond continued. "You sure you don't need help? He did lose you today and I bet you were scared, right?"

To the blonde, he was being helpful, offering the child options. The bespectacled child, on the other hand, just saw red.

Harry turned to him and the anger in those green eyes was rather potent. For such a young child to have a concept of that kind of anger, the kid must have been through a lot.

"You take that back!" the child cried. "Why are you picking on Uncle Skull?! He's the nicest person ever! I thought you were friends, like he is with Mr. Viper! Mr. Viper doesn't do that to Uncle Skull and you shouldn't either! He deserves better than that!"

The normally quiet, shy, and polite child cried in anger as he ran from his bed to Collonello's side. He was weakly beating at the shocked blond's chest, crying at his unfair treatment of his beloved uncle. The soft blows were barely registering in the Rain's mind, his shocked blue eyes looking at an equally shocked purple set.

It took a moment before Skull gathered his wits and laid a gentle hand on the child's shoulder. He comfortingly hugged Harry when he ceased his act of violence.

"Hey, now, Harry," Skull murmured as he ran circles along the child's back. "I get that you're angry but you should never hit people in anger. I understand that's what your Uncle Vernon did, but that's not how we do it with me, okay? Perhaps Colonnello said things you didn't agree with, but that doesn't mean you have to hit him. Are you listening to me, Harry?"

Among the sniffles and the sobs, a pitiful "Yes, Uncle," could be heard.

"Now, what will you do?"

Skull let go of the still sniffling Harry, who hastily wiped his tears away. The slightly watery green eyes turned to the blond, who still stood in shock at the event. To the him, it was like watching the world turn upside down and only he wasn't informed of the new world rules. It was crazy, seeing someone come to the Cloud's aid. No one had ever done that before. Even Mammon, who was the closest to Skull, kept quiet when he and Reborn picked on the Cloud.

"I apologize for hitting you, Mr. Colonnello. It was not the right thing to do," the child bowed. When he came up again, resolute eyes stared at him. "But, I also don't like what you said and I won't apologize for getting angry at that. What you said was rude to Uncle Skull and you have to apologize to him."

The stubborn tilt of his jaw told him that he was not backing down from this.

It was amazing, really. The child immediately came to Skull's defense. The Cloud in turn gently but firmly corrected the child's behavior. Colonnello never imagined he'd see this.

Still dumbstruck, he turned to Skull and apologized. "Sorry about that. I was careless with my words."

The purple eyed faux toddler nodded in acceptance. Seeing this being resolved, Harry went back to his bed and settled in to sleep. A quiet "Good night," emerged from the sheets a few minutes later.

Colonnello was still shocked.

* * *

 **A friend, perhaps?**

 _28 March 1988 - 01:23 - Shining Sands Bar, Shining Sands Inn, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA_

With Harry safely sleeping in their room, Skull decided to invite Colonnello for a drink as an apology. He felt that as Harry's guardian, he had to apologize for his charge's behavior as well. Conveniently, their hotel had a bar so he didn't have to go all that far for a couple of drinks. It was a little difficult to get the both of them drinks, but he somehow managed. Thank you potions in convenient spray bottle format. It might be illegal to use potions on unsuspecting mundanes, but it wasn't like he cared for such things. All it took was a small spritz of 'cologne' in the area and the bartender and patrons didn't pay attention to the false toddlers.

Honestly, it took a lot of his mental powers and a whole lot of research to create a formula that was both viable for airborne deployment and effective on mundanes as well. A mundane's lack of magic had strange effects on potions-some worked too well and others barely worked at all. It took years of trial and effort for him to create this highly illegal substance. He was proud of it, although a part of him still felt bad about tricking the poor, well-meaning adults.

Sometimes he wished he had a working magical system. It would have made life so much easier. But he tried not to think of such things. That only led to disappointment.

The duo had been in the bar for quite some time and were generally enjoying themselves. True, Colonnello had a tendency of picking on him but perhaps Harry's reprimand really struck a cord in the blond's heart. He had been taking care in his jokes and Skull really appreciated the effort. A new friend was always appreciated. It sometimes got too lonely with only Viper as his real friend.

Perhaps he could dare hope that he'd form a bond with the Rain?

"You suddenly look like you ate something shit tasting," a slightly drunk Colonnello quipped.

"Nah, I was just thinking. It was nothing."

"Bullshit. Tell me anything, my man! I have a shit ton of experiences to draw from. Is it the ladies? It's the ladies, right? It drives me insane too, man! So many hot chicks and I can't even hit on them. No fun times for us, eh?"

The Cloud smiled at the blond's antics. He was clearly drunk. His language tended to be loose even when sober and it just got worse with alcohol. It was one of Lal Mirch's many pet peeves about the blond.

"It's nothing, really. I was just thinking of what to do with Harry for the next few days. I want him to enjoy, but I also don't want to lose him again. That scare earlier really rattled me, I suppose," Skull confessed. It may not have been what caused his earlier expression, but it was a concern he had been thinking of as well.

"Oh! That's easy to solve, then. Just come on over to Mafia Land! I'll give you guys a free pass for, let's say, three days? How's that sound?" Colonnello cheerfully offered, raising his now empty glass. It didn't take long for the bartender to refill it with more beer.

Purple eyes widened in surprise. Three days at Mafia Land was really expensive! And the Rain was giving it away, just like that?

"A-are you sure? That's…" Skull couldn't even gather his words. Mafia Land was _really, really_ expensive.

"Why not? I have the authority! I can exercise my authority however I see fit!" Cue more beer glass raising, some contents spilling out.

"I don't think you're of sound mind right now to make such decisions," mumbled the raven haired toddler around his own glass of vodka.

As if a switch was flipped, Colonnello's boisterous actions ceased. He turned to his fellow cursed man, an intense expression on his face.

"Seriously, Skull, it's okay. You want what's best for the kid and I can see the kid really loves you. I stopped by today since I was worried that you were not fit to care for a kid, since you're pretty much the baby of the group. But I was wrong. Somewhere along the line, you stopped being that annoying kid who kept shouting about being better than us. You grew up, I suppose."

Skull clung onto his glass of vodka, as if afraid to break his colleague's sudden seriousness. This was seriously unprecedented. Colonnello turned away, leaning forward onto the countertop and holding his beer almost absentmindedly.

"We haven't kept in touch in the past years except for those annual Arcobaleno meetings. Even then, in those, I would pick on you as you were still that snot-nosed brat that joined us in those so called _missions_ that landed us with this curse. I didn't think that time would have changed you. Sorry about that, bro."

He leaned back, almost falling out of his barstool in doing so. He held his balance, however, and continued to speak as he stared at the ceiling.

"I've been thinking since that kid shouted at me. Would you imagine that, a kid shouting at an Arcobaleno like that? If it was someone else, perhaps the kid would have been killed on the spot. I know Reborn wouldn't really appreciate that kind of talk. But there was something about that kid's eyes that spoke to me. He was hurt and you're healing him. I can see that. And only someone who's good inside can heal someone like that."

Skull's breath hitched when the blond turned to him. He had never seen someone so...apologetic. And in his direction too.

"So yeah. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm sorry for what I did before. You're a cool guy, you know? That lunch with Lussuria and his brat was fun. You were fun to hang out with and I've seen things about you today that I've never thought would apply to you. So I'm inviting you guys over at Mafia Land both as an apology and perhaps as an offer, hmm, friendship sounds too lame. How about being bros, yeah? We can drink beer and look at hot chick's asses or whatever."

The emotional statement was ended so crudely it could only be something heartfelt from the blond. It took a lot of emotional control for Skull not to cry then and there. Perhaps being around a crybaby like Harry was bringing out the crybaby within that he had been burying all this time.

The stuntman smiled. Perhaps that hope wasn't so impossible after all.

"You're an ass guy too? That's something I can get behind. Boobs are overrated," he replied, hiding his grin behind his almost empty glass. Perhaps a refill as in order?

"Did you just make a pun?! Dude no!"

He couldn't hold it in anymore and he laughed. His colleague's reaction to the pun was beautiful.

* * *

 **AN:**

Good day, everyone! I apologize for the rather long delay. Life has gotten really busy for me and finding time to write has been difficult. It didn't help that I was just not satisfied with the initial draft of this chapter. This one contains completely different drabbles from the initial draft and I think this is much better. The other one felt really stale or something.

I thank you for all the prompts! This chapter contains a whole lot of them. I'll go back and mention the sources in a bit, as I'm using the office computer for this update. My personal laptop has the notes on who these prompts come from and I'll properly acknowledge them soon enough. I'm just too excited to let this out that the moment I finished it, I immediately uploaded it.

So please keep giving prompts~ They help me when my writing becomes stale and gross.

Oh! As a note, the Lussuria that appeared here is not the canon Lussuria that you know. That distinction goes to Mee Noi. Blue haired Lussuria is canon Lussuria's mentor. I always had the thought that Lussuria wasn't Lussuria's birth name. In the process of making this chapter, I had the brain fart to have Lussuria be a name that's passed down. I'll go into more detail in the future chapters, but for now, keep in mind the Mee Noi is not an OC but in fact is canon!Lussuria's younger self. The minor OC here is the blue haired Lussuria. And even then, that OC is only on a technicality. He's pretty much Lussuria.

This happened because I wanted to have Lussuria in my story but then I realized he would be eleven or so in the current timeline. He wouldn't be the flamboyant Lussuria we know and love just yet, and so I had someone else be that flamboyant presence that I think would have a positive effect on Harry's development. Who wouldn't want Lussuria to be their weird auntie? Don't worry, I'll do my best to make sure this blue haired Lussuria would have quirks and traits that would differentiate him from canon!Lussuria. I will also do my best to develop Mee Noi into the canon!Lussuria that we know.

Honestly, I'm excited to tackle this challenge I gave myself.

I would love some feedback on this chapter, from Mee Noi and Lussuria, to my interpretation of Colonnello. Feedback helps in improving this story, as I do go back and fix chapters often.


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